The Blackest Potter
by what are you even saying
Summary: AU: Harry is taken and raised by Bellatrix Lestrange, who no longer worships the ground Voldemort walks on. Most of the story takes place in Harry's fifth year. HarryLavender
1. Prologue

**The Blackest Potter**

A/N: Welcome one and all to my fourth attempt at Harry Potter fanfiction. For those of you that are interested, my starting this story is a good sign regarding future updates of my others. This plot bunny has simply grown too large to ignore, though, so here we are.

This is a response to the Mother Knows Best challenge posted on the pottersplace3 yahoo group. If you're interested in reading it, it can also be found on my profile here. Within the first several chapters, you'll find a couple of flashbacks, which will be in italics. Aside from that, I think everything is self-explanatory. I have this along with a first chapter (which is considerably longer than this) written out, and I've outlined several more in some detail. I'll submit the first chapter in a day or two, and hopefully you can expect the next chapter of Stolen Magic pretty soon after that.

Rating-wise, this piece is rated R for now. I don't plan on including explicit sex, although I _might_ end up bumping up the rating to NC-17 later. As the story stands, the rating is more for violence than anything else.

Disclaimer: This is a blanket disclaimer. It covers the entire story, saving me the trouble of posting it in my notes for every chapter. I don't own any part of the Harry Potter universe. Now with that out of the way, we can finally begin.

**Prologue**

"Bellatrix, Rodolphus, guard the perimeter. I shall be most displeased if you allow anyone past you," Lord Voldemort said softly, his voice cracking like a whip against her skin, despite his quiet tone. "Severus, Wormtail, you have both proven your mettle in the recent past. You may accompany me inside. As I have already told you, do not harm the babe."

Wormtail straightened proudly, his disillusioned form becoming slightly more visible because of the motion. Bella suppressed a snort with difficulty. Hardly anyone understood Wormtail, but Bella was an expert at cultivating information about her fellow Death Eaters. More than anything else, the little rat was driven by his lust for Lily Potter. The Dark Lord would presumably give her to Wormtail, though Bella expected him to have to share. Despite her status as a mudblood, many Death Eaters entertained not-so-secret fantasies about the auburn-haired beauty.

From there, her thoughts shifted to Severus Snape, one of the most unreadable men she had ever come across. Beyond his hatred of James Potter, which nearly everyone in the wizarding world knew about, Bella had no idea what motivated him. She was actually quite interested to see how he would behave once his archenemy was dead.

A flash of light from inside the house drew her attention back to the outside world. She hadn't even seen them enter. Though eager when she first heard where they were going, Bella now felt a strange mix of emotions as she watched the Potter house.

When she was little, her parents had attempted to instill their pureblood supremacist beliefs in her, as well as in her sisters. The eldest, Andromeda, had abandoned those beliefs as quickly as she could, marrying a muggleborn wizard of considerable power by the name of Tonks immediately after leaving Hogwarts. Bella had believed her parents until her years at Hogwarts, when she discovered that some of the most powerful students there were muggleborns.

From that point on, Bella sought only power. Voldemort was the power she found, and he just happened to believe her parents' doctrine. Under his tutelage, she'd absorbed the dark arts like a sponge, becoming more powerful than she had ever dreamed.

It wasn't worth it.

Voldemort would always be more powerful than her, and because she joined him, she was subjected to his every whim. Eventually, at his command, she married Rodolphus Lestrange. He was fanatical in his devotion to Voldemort, and downright sadistic when it came to his victims. He was also terrible in bed.

The memories of the unspeakable acts Voldemort forced her to commit swirled in her conscious as her husband paced about like an impatient schoolboy. She only snapped out of it when she heard an inhuman shriek of pain from inside the house. It sounded like her master.

Within a second, she and Rodolphus had dashed inside, hoping for two completely different things. James Potter was the first thing they saw, or rather his corpse, which hung from the ceiling. His face was contorted into an expression of agony, and there were a pair of long gashes running up and down his torso. This was clearly the work of Snape and his favored curse, Sectumsempra, though Bella suspected that he had needed Wormtail's help, as James Potter was a skilled duelist. The room around them was in ruin. Chairs and tables reduced to splinters, part of a bookshelf sticking out of a wall. Only a curious black box with a pane of black glass covering most of one side of it remained intact. Bella correctly assumed it to be a muggle device of some sort.

Rodolphus pushed past her and raced into the next room. She heard him climb a set of stairs and stop.

"Bella, come here!" Rodolphus sounded panic-stricken, and though she was reluctant to do anything he asked, Bella's curiosity overcame her dislike for her husband.

"What did you find?" she asked as she reached the top of the steps. Any other words she had planned to say died in her throat when she saw that her husband was holding the Dark Lord's robes.

"They were just there, on the floor," he stammered, looking terrified.

"What of Lily Potter?" Bella asked, her thoughts racing.

"Dead," Rodolphus replied, regaining some of his composure. "Only the boy remains alive."

"The Dark Lord vanished, the Potters dead, except for their son..." Bella muttered, trying to make sense of things. "His wand?"

"I think Wormtail or Snape took it when they disapparated," her husband answered.

"Then we can't use it to check for spells," she whispered. Her expression became inscrutable as her thoughts turned inward. A moment later, her expression unchanging, she raised her wand at her husband and quietly intoned, "Avada Kedavra." He fell to the floor with a thud, his master's robes covering the shocked expression on his face.

Brutally suppressing her elation at Rodolphus' death, Bella's concentration never broke. She had used that spell for two reasons. The first, obviously, was to kill her husband and be free of him. The second, however, was to aid her search for earlier echoes of that same curse. Bella was immediately able to sense two more killing curses. She stepped over Rodolphus' prone body into the nursery and checked Lily's body as well as the sleeping babe. Both had the residue of the curse on them, suggesting to her that the Dark Lord had used the curse on both parties. However, the boy was alive and unharmed, save for a gash on his forehead.

Bella sighed, rubbing her forehead. The boy, Harry Potter, had apparently not only survived the killing curse, something that shouldn't be possible, but had somehow reflected its power back onto the original caster. To someone who coveted power as Bella did, finding such a child was a miracle. His parents were gone, her master and husband were gone, it seemed logical in her mind for her to take the child and raise him as her own. His power would be enough to rule the wizarding world, like her master's was, but she would steer him right. She would raise him to be noble and good, but still ruthless when necessary. She would raise the perfect leader, and have a place at his side as his closest advisor.

But first, they would have to run.


	2. Chapter 1

**The Blackest Potter**

A/N: I don't have too much to say going into this chapter. It contains what I consider to be my first actual fight scene, since I don't really count the conflicts you've seen so far in my other stories. I hope reviewers will be honest with their criticism, since I'm still learning. Another thing I'm hoping readers will keep an eye on is Bella's character. I don't want to turn her into a Mary-Sue, but I should warn you that she comes as close as she's ever going to right here in this chapter.

A few of you seemed really interested in how Bella will raise Harry. Unfortunately for you, you're going to have to wait at least one more chapter for any significant details about that. Where they lived for a pretty big chunk of the time is mentioned briefly here, but no details until they meet up with Dumbledore.

**Chapter 1**

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic," a cool female voice said, echoing around the pair in the phone booth. "Please state your name and business."

"Harry Potter and Bellatrix Black. We're here regarding a prophecy."

"Thank you," the voice said. "Visitors please take the badges and attach them to the front of your robes." Two small silver buttons popped out in the change slot. A young man about six feet in height took them, handing one back to his companion. He kept his hair relatively short, in sharp contrast with the relatively impractical ponytail that was common in pureblood culture. "Visitor to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium."

"You were right, that _was_ easy," Harry said, ignoring the voice's warning.

"Getting into the building always has been," Bella agreed, "it's getting out that will be the problem."

"We could always get lucky," he offered, not really believing his own words. She didn't even dignify his statement with a response.

The disguised elevator stopped a moment later in the Atrium, which was completely empty, mainly because very few employees worked at four thirty in the morning. After disillusioning themselves, they made their way past the Fountain of Magical Brethren and to the security desk, where a bulky wizard appeared to be sleeping.

"That's lucky," Bella whispered. "I wasn't sure how we'd unravel the wards without alerting him, especially since given the completely separate set of defensive wards around his desk." Her tone then changed from that of a co-conspirator to a caricature of a vindictive teacher. "Now go on and unravel the wards around the doorway. If you can do that, then you're ready for your O.W.L.s."

Harry rolled his eyes but stepped forward, pulling his wand out and waving it in a spiral pattern in front of him. Several areas of the doorway lit up in different colors, some brighter than others. Bella nodded approvingly, though her expression shifted to one of confusion when Harry threw up muffling charms around both of them and the doorway.

"The work I'm about to do will be loud," he explained when he caught her look, "and I expect you'll want to yell at me once you figure it out."

With that, Harry hurled a vicious nonverbal Slicing Curse above the doorway, followed immediately by several more. Once he had broken through the wall above the door, he made his way around the doorway on both sides, cutting through the solid stone with surprising ease. Upon reaching the floor, he carefully dug under the doorway with weaker curses until he was finally able to levitate the frame of the door to the side and lean it against the wall.

When he turned back to face her, a massive grin on his face, she couldn't quite bring herself to scold him.

"Couldn't you have unraveled the wards the conventional way?" Bella asked.

"If given a bit of time," Harry said with a casual shrug. "We don't have a lot of that, though, and I couldn't resist."

"Those were probably at least N.E.W.T. level anyway," Bella said, knowing full well that there were professionals who wouldn't be able to unravel those wards.

"We're about to leave the area covered by the muffling charms," Harry warned unnecessarily. After all, Bella was the one who taught him that charm, along with nearly every other spell in his considerable arsenal.

They arrived at the lifts a minute later and took one down to level 9. Bella knew the Ministry quite well, and both of them left the fact that she learned what she had working for Voldemort unsaid. They remained silent until they entered an unremarkable black door into a circular room that was black from floor to ceiling with doors lining the wall. Bella turned and sent a low powered curse into the door they had come through, marking it just before the room began to spin. When it stopped, both Harry and Bella had no trouble picking up on the spell residue on the door, which was now to their left.

"Any ideas?" Harry asked.

"Just try one," Bella said as she looked around. Finally coming to a decision, she turned to her right and went to the door that sat directly across the room from where they had come. "Locked."

"My turn," Harry said, throwing her a smug look. "What are we looking for?"

"Time and prophecy are researched by the same Unspeakables," Bella said, glaring at her charge for his continued lack of seriousness, "so look for anything that might fall under those categories."

Harry nodded and chose the door to the left of Bella's, finding it locked as well. Without pausing, he moved to the next one and opened it. Inside was what looked like the office of an average businessman, except for one wall, which was completely covered by a large bookshelf. Each shelf held a massive glass case that was filled to the brim with a bright liquid. Different shelves had different colored liquids.

"This isn't it," Bella said. "Let's try the next door." But Harry wasn't listening to her. Instead, he had put his wand away and was cautiously approaching the wall. Bella sighed in frustration before silently sending a full body bind into Harry's blurred form. Keeping her wand trained on him, Bella levitated his body out of the room and shut the door.

"What was that for?!" Harry asked when she had released him.

"Did you forget already?" Bella hissed, clearly furious. "We're here for a prophecy about _you_. And what have I told you about touching magical objects without knowing exactly what their properties are?"

"I wasn't going to-" Harry began.

"Don't be stupid, of course you were!"

Harry blushed. "Fine, I was, I'm sorry. Dunno what came over me." His tone turned thoughtful. "Something about that yellow stuff..."

"Don't let it happen again," Bella growled. "For someone who can throw off my Imperius with ease, you're far too susceptible to compulsions."

"I haven't been in the past," Harry protested, now troubled by what his temporary weakness meant for the future.

"Don't allow yourself to slip up like that again," Bella said, her expression softening. "Dropping your Occlumency shields in here wasn't smart."

"I won't let them slip again until we're back at home," Harry promised, hexing the door as it closed behind them. The room predictably began spinning again, but now two doors had a strong residue of magic marking them.

"We should start marking the locked doors as well," Bella said, tugging futilely at another door before giving up and sending a spell splashing against it.

Harry nodded and tried another door. "Clocks," he announced with a smile, pulling the door wider and motioning for Bella to go first. Both of their eyes were immediately drawn to a large bell jar, in which an egg hatched into a baby hummingbird. The bird grew to maturity before their very eyes and then fell, changing back into an egg at the bottom for the cycle to begin anew.

"The Hall of Prophecy is close," Bella said, still entranced by the bird.

"There's only one other door," Harry pointed out, leading her away. "This whole department is strange," he commented a moment later as they reached the portal. "Everything is just a little bit _too_ interesting."

Bella nodded once, then wordlessly pulled the door open. What greeted them was row after row of dusty, rickety shelves. Atop each shelf were small glass spheres, each no larger than a tennis ball. They were as dusty as the shelves they rested on, but some had their own inner luminescence that showed through, giving the room a disturbingly ethereal quality. In front of each sphere was a small paper label.

"There must be some kind of system for organizing these," Bella muttered to herself, walking around.

"They're organized by date," Harry said, noting the differing amounts of dust from shelf to shelf. "When was this one made?"

"Around five hundred years ago, give or take," Bella replied, checking the tag.

"Then we want to go left. The oldest ones are right over there on the right." Bella didn't question him at all, merely following as he led her through progressively cleaner aisles of shelves, counting along the way.

"D'you think I'll be able to...sense it?" Harry asked in number 97, stopping to inspect a shelf.

"Perhaps," Bella said softly, now studying the shelves intently as well. "Did you feel that it might be here?"

"I'm not sure, but this is the last row," Harry said, pointing out the wall behind the shelf in front of them.

"So it is," Bella said. "Remember, don't touch any prophecies but the one we're looking for."

"I'm aware of that, thanks," Harry said exasperatedly. "There's no need to remind me every five minutes, you know."

Bella sighed and continued her search. The tags had the initials of the person who made the prophecy, the person to whom it was made, and the full names of those that it involved. Bella looked primarily at those, but Harry's name was nowhere to be found.

"I think this is it," Harry said, causing her to turn immediately. The ball in question was glowing slightly, but no more than those around it. "Why's there a question mark in front of my name?"

"The contents should explain it," Bella said. "It might be that it isn't about you after all."

Harry, who had been reaching out to pick it up, stopped. "Wait, is it or isn't it? You said not to touch it if it wasn't about me."

"Your name is right there."

"Yes, right after the bloody effing question mark," Harry snapped, his temper getting the better of him.

"I shouldn't have said it wasn't about you," Bella said. "Look at this, the question mark is written differently than your name. A different person probably wrote it there at a different time. I imagine they couldn't figure out who it was about until you did something that made them realize it had to be you."

"And just what did I do, exactly?" Harry asked rudely.

"Oh, I don't know..._survive the Killing Curse_?" Bella shot back with equal sarcasm.

"Fine!" Harry said, grabbing the prophecy in one quick motion. He and Bella both winced as they consciously realized what he had done, but there was no reaction.

"Right then," Harry said, letting out a nervous breath, "guess it's about me after all."

"It appears so," Bella said, a relieved smile on her face. "So...shall we?"

"I know I can't take the suspense," Harry said. "Remember the initials of the seer as we're watching. There's no chance of me recognizing, er...whoever it is, but you might. It was obviously made to Dumbledore, so the seer is the only remaining person in question." At Bella's confirming nod, Harry grinned and threw the prophecy at the ground, shattering it. The ghostly form of a skeletal woman wearing a great deal of baggy shawls and gaudy jewelry emerged, more or less the image Harry had expected to see. Her voice, however, was a bit of a surprise. It came out deeper than his own, and quite rough.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives."

Harry and Bella stood there for almost a full minute digesting the news, particularly the foreboding final line. Neither one was thinking about the seer's identity. Finally, Bella snapped out of it.

"You don't have to do it alone, Harry," she said softly, laying a hand on his shoulder. It was a rare show of support from his normally unconcerned guardian, but Harry had come to expect such gestures from her when he really needed them. They were how he knew she cared.

Harry managed a smile for Bella's sake, but he wasn't feeling too optimistic. He was powerful, and he knew it, but killing the most feared Dark Lord in centuries was no mean feat.

Bella saw through his smile immediately and put her other arm around him, giving him a much-needed hug. Harry immediately returned it and clung to her like a lifeline, his fear stronger than he could ever remember it being. Still, it didn't take much time for him to master his emotions and release his iron grip on her.

"I mean it, you won't be alone. I'll be with you, and we're contacting Dumbledore soon. For all of his flaws, he's feared by Voldemort for a reason."

"You're right," Harry said, a sincere half-smile on his face. "Besides, it's not like I have to kill him today. I've got plenty of time to get to his level, or at least closer to it."

"You'll surpass him someday," Bella promised.

"Maybe," Harry said, as they began to move towards the exit.

"Quite a depressing start to your birthday," Bella commented with a chuckle. "We'll have to make the rest much nicer for you."

"It's still pretty early," Harry said, checking his watch. "Just about five in the morning. Besides, how could my first trip to Diagon Alley be anything but amazing? I've only been begging to go since you told me about it...what, four years ago?"

Bella smiled slightly at him as they continued; now back in the room with the clocks. "Yes, it was around then. Aren't you glad now that you didn't go to Ollivander's for your first wand?"

"He couldn't make me a better wand if he tried. We'll have to see what he sticks me with later, as I'll probably have to use it most of the time at Hogwarts."

"Ollivander could well surprise you," Bella said. "He's very good at what he does. Besides, you know as well as I do that one man couldn't possibly make custom wands for every witch and wizard in Britain." 

"I'm quite curious to meet him, though. You've told me so little about him."

"I've only met the man once," Bella said. "But he leaves such a strong impression that I couldn't resist telling you what little I know about him."

"That doesn't sound like you," Harry said slowly. "You love finding out about people. Remember–" He trailed off after opening the door leading back into the circular room. Two men in sweeping black cloaks appeared to be waiting for them. Unspeakables. One was a couple of inches taller than Harry, while the other was somewhat shorter and stockier, closer to Bella's height.

In a practiced motion, Harry dove forward out of the doorway, pulling his wand out and muttering an incantation as two stunners shot where he had been not a second before.

Bella deflected the spells into the ceiling with a well-placed Shield Charm before going on the offensive, sending a barrage of relatively benign hexes towards the two attackers. Before leaving for the Ministry, Harry and Bella had agreed to let their opponents set the ethical standards for any duels they might be forced into. Neither person planned on using anything more powerful than a stunner unless their opponents decided to up the ante. They didn't want to be caught using anything Dark unless they had to, after all. The taller Unspeakable opted to shield Bella's attack while the other dodged aside and moved to attack Harry.

The incantation Harry had muttered was "Declino", a spell that turned his wand into a highly focused shield of sorts. It used the same amount of power as a simple Shield Charm, but all of that power was focused on the tip of the wand, making it able to deflect far stronger spells than a simple Protego. With precise aim, Harry could deflect all but the most powerful focused curses that might come his way. The Unspeakable hadn't seen him cast, or he would have changed his method of attack. Instead, Harry had the element of surprise on his side. The attack came in the form of a fairly predictable Bludgeoning Hex, which Harry promptly returned to its caster with a practiced flick of his wand. Knowing that his opponent would change tactics immediately, Harry used the time to send three spells at him in rapid succession.

The man was shocked immediately after casting the spell to see the bright blue light rocketing right back at him. Hastily, he cast his own shield, which was barely able to deflect the curse into the wall. It would have held against at least the first of Harry's spells, had he followed his opponent's example. Instead, a small flame, the result of a quickly cast Incendio, passed through the man's shield as if it wasn't even there and lit his cloak on fire.

He foolishly looked down to put out his cloak only to realize that his shield (which was concentration-based) was gone just before being blasted off his feet by an overpowered Disarming Charm. The Unspeakable hit one of the doors surrounding them and fell to the floor, unconscious.

Bella, meanwhile, had taken the offensive immediately after seeing that her opponent had chosen to shield himself rather than dodge and attack her immediately. Her strategy for breaking through was remarkably similar to that of her student, but perhaps a bit more brutal. She opted to use a fire whip instead of the simpler Incendio, which made for a considerably more painful result. She stunned the Unspeakable as he was howling in pain, clutching his blistering legs.

"They will have raised the alarm," Bella said once Harry had finished his opponent. "Aurors will be swarming the Atrium, and our emergency Portkeys won't work."

"Isn't there a chance of running into them before then?" Harry asked.

"A chance, but not a big one," Bella replied. "Anywhere else they'd risk getting caught in the hallways, where they can't use their superior numbers. No, they'll be waiting in the Atrium. Eight is my guess, that's the most that ever fought cohesively together in the First War."

"We can get past eight," Harry said. "Well, we can as long as they can't see through our disillusions like those Unspeakables."

"I suppose that's one good thing about old Mad-Eye being dead," Bella mused. "He wouldn't just see through those; our Glamour Charms wouldn't fool him either."

"He was retired anyway," Harry said. "But I did want to meet him after hearing all of your stories."

"He was one of a kind," Bella said with a smile as they finally reentered the lift.

"We're going with an escape strategy, right?" Harry asked.

"Since it's either that or trying to kill them all, I'd say we should escape," Bella said. "We wouldn't want to give them any more reasons to dislike us, after all."

"Can we use divide, conquer and avoid?" Harry asked, referring to his favorite method of escaping against a large number of foes.

"Yes, that should do nicely," Bella replied. "You'll be doing the transfiguration, so don't be afraid to put a lot of power into it."

"I'll have to if I want it to work quickly enough," Harry said. "What spells will you be using?"

"I've got both of my wands, so I think I'll keep a fire whip active for as long as I can to defeat their shields and just send stunners their way until you can help me finish them," Bella said, an eager expression on her face. She liked nothing more than a good fight, and Harry knew she hadn't raised her wand against anyone as anything more than a training exercise since she had killed the chief of Nanultka, the African village that had been their home until his eleventh birthday.

The lift stopped, and an inappropriately cheerful note chimed as the doors opened. Bella led Harry back through the hallway until they could see the removed doorframe from earlier. Beyond that was the open Atrium, where they could see four Aurors waiting for them.

"You're both under arrest," came the predictable call from up ahead, making the pair realize that once again their disillusionments had failed them. "Toss your wands in front of you and come in with your hands up. Otherwise we can't guarantee your safety."

"Ready?" Bella asked quietly.

"Lead the way," Harry whispered back.

They both immediately took off at a run, Bella in the lead with Harry keeping pace a couple of steps back. She was already hurling stunners from both wands at the Aurors, but their conjured shields kept them safe. Harry was concentrating on the cobbled floor, since his transfiguration would involve that material. As soon as they came out into the open, four more Aurors came into view on their left, wands drawn.

Bella slowed to a stop and continued casting with her left while she unleashed a fire whip from her right, aiming exclusively at the shielded Aurors in front of her. Harry had his wand tip pointed at the floor a few feet in front of the Aurors on the left, who were already beginning to cast. He lifted his wand, but felt it stop after rising only slightly, caught on something invisible. The Aurors only had a second to notice that a forty-foot strip of floor had risen a few inches off the ground in a square shape around them before Harry's magic overcame its invisible barrier and he ripped his wand upwards with incredible force. The Aurors could only watch, their mouths agape, as the strip of solid rock rose straight into the ceiling and solidified, trapping them completely. They couldn't attack it for fear of bringing it down on their heads, so they began the tedious process of undoing the impressive transfiguration while Bella continued to keep four fully trained Aurors at bay.

Harry turned to face the remaining combatants and had a second to register their appearances before joining the fray himself. One had taken it upon himself to protect his allies from Bella's fire whip and had conjured a metal shield that he was using to deflect the whip as well as the occasional stunner that came his way. He was tall, even taller than the large Unspeakable from earlier, and had a shaved head and a large gold hoop earring in one ear. Of the other three Aurors, two were clearly novices, unable to concentrate on anything but keeping their shields strong. The fourth, a handsome dark-haired man wasn't even using a shield, but was instead nimbly dodging any spells that came his way, a smile on his face that matched Bella's. It was an impressive feat, since Bella was concentrating her stunners mainly on him while she was forced to dodge his attacks. Her constant dodging meant she was barely aiming with her fire whip, but that actually made the tall black Auror's job more difficult, since he had no way of predicting where she would strike next. Harry decided to start with him.

"Accio!" he cried, summoning the distracted Auror to him. The man was able to fight the spell, but not before stumbling forward a couple of steps, leaving one of the novices open to be hit on the arm by Bella's fire whip, causing him to drop his wand. Harry's next spell was a banisher, which sent the poor fool flying clear over the Fountain of Magical Brethren. He landed on the floor beyond it, down but not out. Harry sent a stunner between the statues to finish him a split-second before he was forced to dive forward under the spinning conjured shield that the tall Auror had sent his way.

Bella had released her fire whip when it connected with the novice and now used her second wand to keep a shield up as she continued her barrage with her other wand. Her main opponent, who she recognized as her cousin, Sirius Black, was starting to show signs of fatigue. However, his remaining ally had apparently found his courage and was now attacking as well. Bella knew that she was tiring as quickly as her cousin, so she prayed Harry would be able to finish his remaining opponent quickly enough to come to her aid.

As he rose from his dive, Harry blocked a banisher that would have forced him face-first into the floor, cast a quick Feather-Light Charm on himself and jumped, sailing over the tall Auror's head and releasing a pair of stunners from the air, which were blocked. From his new vantage point, Harry saw that the four Aurors he had trapped were making good progress in undoing his transfiguration. "Accio Aurors!" he cried, only just resisting the urge to wince has he heard several loud thumps from inside the makeshift prison as they were forcible pulled into the rock. Luckily, his spell had again distracted the tall Auror, tugging on him enough to interrupt his casting.

Deciding to once again use transfiguration to his advantage, Harry pulled up a much smaller wall from the floor to block his opponent's next few spells before manipulating it to send a line of solid stone forward, which his the Auror in the chest. He heard a wet snap, suggesting at least one broken rib. Gasping for breath, the tall man didn't even realize another spell had been cast before he was unconscious.

Harry looked once again at the wall that represented the four trapped Aurors, at least one of whom was still working on escaping. He took a second to solidify the prison and take off his Feather-Light Charm before turning to help Bella.

"Let's go while we can!" Harry called, firing banishing spells at the backs of Bella's opponents. The dark-haired man was able to narrowly avoid his, but his remaining ally was sent head-over-heels into the security desk. The man that had been sleeping there earlier was gone, presumably evacuated.

Bella nodded and dashed to his side, blocking her cousin's hexes as she ran. Sirius growled in frustration before giving chase. The pair ran to the far end of the Atrium, desperate to get to the apparition point. The occasional stunner splashed harmlessly against the walls in front of them, but they never slowed. An "Ennervate" behind them reached their ears just as they found the apparition point. Once there, Bella grabbed Harry's hand and the pair disappeared with a soft pop.

"They get away?" Kingsley Shacklebolt asked, rubbing his head as Sirius helped him up. He winced as his mind registered the pain in his battered torso.

"'Fraid so," Sirius said resignedly. "Scrimgeour's going to kill us."

"Seems likely," Kingsley agreed. "You revive Shaw and McManus, I'll get Frank and the others out of there."

"Right," Sirius said, pausing over the still form of Michael Shaw. "Reckon Dumbledore should hear about this?"

"I didn't recognize either of them," Kingsley said. "Could be You-Know-Who's latest recruits."

"I'm not so sure," Sirius said. "They were disillusioned, so the only reason we could see them at all were these contact lenses, which aren't too great with details. Besides, they didn't use anything more serious than that fire spell, and the woman stopped it as soon as it made contact with McManus."

"Probably not Death Eater material, then, but we should tell Dumbledore anyway," Kingsley said. With nothing more to add, he turned and began casting on the wall.

Sirius turned back to Shaw, lost in thought.


	3. Chapter 2

**The Blackest Potter**

A/N: Just a couple of things to say before we can get started. First off, I'd like to tell you guys my general plan for updating. Right now I'm only actively working on this and Stolen Magic, and barring writer's block, I'm planning on alternating updates. Hopefully there won't be more than two weeks between chapters, but I know I can't promise anything.

As you can tell, this chapter is considerably longer than the last one, which, in turn, was considerably longer than the prologue. I'm not going to continue increasing the word count like that. I have my chapters outlined, and they'll be exactly as long as they need to be. That goes for all of my stories in the future as well. Complaints about the lengths of any individual chapters will be considered, but largely ignored in the end.

Finally, I'd like to thank Apocalypso for inspiring me to write the flashback for this chapter. It's not as interesting as his wand customization scene in The Chimera, More Snake Than Lion, but I still enjoyed writing it.

**Chapter 2**

Several hours passed before Harry and Bella ventured out again. They had changed their Glamour Charms so no one would recognize them from the Ministry. Harry now retained his own mop of messy hair, though it was dirty blonde instead of black. The only other change was his eyes, which were an icy blue rather than the fairly nondescript brown he had chosen earlier. His scar remained hidden. Bella had changed the shape of her nose, giving it a noticeable curve that made her look like a bizarre red-plumed bird with her auburn hair and dark eyes.

They had returned home from the Ministry to find an owl from Hogwarts waiting for them with Harry's letter attached to its leg. After sending it away with a reply, the pair retired to their rooms, hoping to get some sleep before their next outing.

The pair lived in one of the Black family's many ancestral homes, this one located in Kent. It was one of the family's smallest structures, existing more for practicality than for comfort. It only held four bedrooms and three baths, but boasted a fully functional potions laboratory and dueling room, both of which Harry and Bella spent a considerable amount of time in.

Bella apparated them both into one of several designated areas in the alley, this one between Gringotts and the Magical Menagerie.

"Ollivanders is that way," Bella said, pointing to their right. "We'll go there immediately after Gringotts, since all of our other stops are in the opposite direction."

"Right," Harry said dazedly, overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of Diagon Alley in the middle of the day. He hadn't been around so many wizards in four years, and he had at least known everyone in Nanultka before that. This was an entirely new experience for him. He shook himself from his reverie a moment later, remembering the importance of the task at hand.

Harry was rejoining the wizarding world. Bella would be soon as well, but as a Death Eater; her situation was far more complicated. She had been to Gringotts several times ever since their return to England four years earlier, and was pleased to discover that the famous goblin neutrality extended to her as well. The fact that she had made transactions there was a matter of public record, and could therefore be seen if one were to go through the proper channels. However, the goblins were under no obligation to report her, so they did not. She only hoped that the same would be true for Harry. He had to claim his inheritance, after all.

They entered the bank in silence. Harry knew that Bella wouldn't help him in here. This was the first of many things he had to do without her direction. He consoled himself with the knowledge that she would at least remain at his side, offering what silent support she could.

There were several tellers free, including the one on the far right. Harry led Bella in that direction, suppressing a smile as every free teller he passed scowled, one even giving a rude gesture.

"Can you muffle the area, Bella?" Harry asked quietly as they reached the desk. He heard her mutter a few choice spells, but curiously didn't feel the familiar brush of magic.

"There is no need for spellwork here," the goblin teller rasped in a superior tone. "All of our desks are warded for secrecy, so your business remains your own. Now, what do you want?"

If Harry was surprised by the goblin's abrupt manner of speaking, he didn't show it. "My name is Harry Black Potter, formerly Harry James Potter. I'm here to claim my inheritance."

The goblin's eyes widened slightly, but otherwise seemed unaffected. "I will need a blood sample for verification purposes." He pulled out what looked like a muggle syringe from a desk drawer and motioned for Harry to hold out his hand.

He acquiesced with considerable reluctance, wincing as the goblin unceremoniously jammed the needle into his wrist, pulling back the plunger as far as it would go before yanking the device out again and inspecting the crimson liquid inside, looking for something that neither Harry nor Bella could spot.

"Everything seems to be in order," the creature said at last, squirting the blood into an empty inkwell that had appeared out of nowhere. Next to it was a parchment that had been blank, but was now quickly filling up with information, mostly numerical figures. "You won't be able to access your family vault until two years from today when you reach your majority. However, a trust vault was set up prior to your birth that should contain enough funds to tide you over until then. Just sign and date the bottom there with this."

Harry took the proffered quill and dipped it into his blood, then signed his name as quickly as possible. The goblin immediately snatched the parchment up and inspected it before nodding once and waving his hand, causing both it and the inkwell to vanish. A key appeared in the inkwell's place, which the goblin gave to Harry in exchange for the quill. "Did you want to make a withdrawal from your trust?" he asked. "It can be done here, or I can have someone bring you down to the vault."

"I'll just withdraw thirty galleons through you, if it's all the same," Harry said, looking to Bella for confirmation. She nodded and gave him a look of approval.

"Very well," the goblin said, opening a large canvas bag that took up the entire left half of the desk and pulling out another bag, this one considerably smaller. "Here you are, Mr. Potter."

"Thank you," Harry said, turning to leave only to be stopped by Bella.

"Can we trust that your usual procedures regarding confidentiality will apply here?" she asked.

"Gold is gold, no matter the source," was the only reply she would get. Bella nodded once, satisfied that no one would find out about Harry's return just yet.

Four years earlier, Harry had received his first Hogwarts letter, confirming to the Hogwarts staff, at the very least, that he was alive. Bella sent a reply as quickly as she could, which she had written with her left hand. It assured Dumbledore that Harry was safe and happy, but that he wouldn't be attending Hogwarts until his O.W.L. year. Bella still wasn't sure why they had accepted her word, but three days later, an article had surfaced in the Daily Prophet, complete with the picture she had sent of a ten-year-old Harry Potter reading a book, saying that sources had revealed that he was staying under Ministry protection and wouldn't be rejoining the populace until his fifth year at Hogwarts.

Minutes later, Harry and Bella stood in front of Ollivanders, the former surprised by its shabby exterior. It looked quite small from the front, but Harry had seen on the walk over that the building extended quite far back.

A soft bell tinkled overhead when Harry opened the door, alerting the store's sole occupant to their presence. He was a wisp of a man, barely topping five feet with sparse white hair and unblinking pale gray eyes that flashed when they met Harry's. "You are quite young to be an Occlumens, Mr..."

"Potter," Harry said.

"Ah yes, Mr. Potter. I had wondered if you would ever find your way here. It seems like only yesterday that your parents were here, purchasing their wands. Willow for your mother, ten and a quarter inches with a fine phoenix feather as its core. Your father's wand had a bit more power, mahogany, you know. It was eleven inches with one of three hairs from a particularly strong male unicorn. I still have one of the three, but I sold the other a few years ago to Cedric Diggory. Such a promising young man, what happened to him was a travesty." He paused for a moment, his eyes dimming slightly, before turning his gaze to Bella. He didn't miss Harry's flinch at the mention of Diggory. "I'm afraid I don't recognize your companion, though, as her glamour is every bit as complete as your own."

"Bellatrix Black," Bella said softly, testing his response.

Ollivander didn't even bat an eye. "I remember you quite well, Miss Black. Oak, twelve and three quarter inches, containing a dragon heartstring from the most temperamental Chinese Fireball seen in centuries. Quite a heavy wand for the small girl you were at the time. Your power grew into it nicely, though."

"How do you remember so much about my parents' wands, sir?" Harry asked, his respect for the ancient man before him rising by the minute.

"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter, every single one. It is something of a family trait," Ollivander replied with a mysterious smile. "But enough about that. Since you were raised by a Black, I can only assume that you have already forged your own wand. Is that correct?"

"Yes, sir," Harry said, thinking back to his eleventh birthday, arguably the most eventful day of his life.

_A younger Harry Potter looked around the unfamiliar room, taking in every detail. It was the potions laboratory of the mansion in Kent. Early that morning, he had received his Hogwarts letter, which Bella replied to within a minute. She then packed their things and took him away from Nanultka. They were gone within the hour. She said that Dumbledore might have found them if the envelope was addressed to the village, and that she couldn't risk him being taken from her until he could defend himself. That was what Harry liked most about Bella; she was always honest, even when she couldn't tell him everything. He would miss the children from the village, but had known that he would eventually have to leave ever since he was capable of understanding the concept, which made it easier._

_Bella entered the lab a minute later, carrying a magically expanded bag. From inside it she pulled no fewer than twenty-eight different large, heavy-looking blocks of wood. After that came an assortment of vials. More than half of them contained phoenix feathers, dragon heartstrings or unicorn hairs, but there were a great deal that contained other things as well. Finally, she pulled out a roll of cloth, placed it reverently on a table and unrolled it, revealing a wide assortment of tools, including a hammer and chisel made of solid silver along with several metal hooks and blades that were presumably used for carving._

_"Harry," Bella began softly, "it's time for you to make your wand. Other wizards will have wands that choose them that they buy in shops. While those wands can be very effective, nothing works as well as a wand made by its owner. That's because you will be able to put a bit of your own magic into it, making your connection to your wand stronger than it could ever be with a store-bought wand."_

_Harry had never heard Bella speak that way before. This tradition was obviously something she held very dear to her heart, so he would treat it with every ounce of respect he had. "Tell me what to do first."_

_"The first step is the easiest," Bella said. "Go on and take the hammer and chisel in hand. They will guide you and allow you to select the wood your wand will be made of."_

_"Has anyone ever had more than one kind?" Harry asked._

_"Nearly everyone since this tradition started has had at least two," Bella said. "However, having more kinds of wood doesn't make your wand any stronger. Every aspect of a Black family wand is tailored to its user. If your wand has more types of wood, it is because you need more. Several of my ancestors have tried to figure out why, but no one has succeeded yet."_

_"How many does yours have?"_

_"Three," Bella said. "Its outermost layer is a chestnut tree from Switzerland. Inside that is yew, from right here in Britain, and the innermost layer is a sequoia that came from America. The most layers any wand has ever had to my knowledge was seven, belonging to the first Andromeda Black, back in the 1400's. She went insane before turning twenty and tried to kill her mother with a levitated potted plant of all things."_

_Harry's eyes were wide, but his eagerness to begin the process outweighed his curiosity. He took up the hammer and chisel with surprisingly steady hands, finding them to be lighter than he had expected._

_"Just give a light tap to each block. You'll know if it's the right one," Bella advised._

_Harry approached the first block apprehensively. He couldn't tell what kind of wood it was from looking, which was true for all of the blocks. He lined up the chisel and gave it a tentative tap, but nothing happened. Harry pulled his arm back, ready to try again with a bit more force, but Bella caught his eye and shook her head. "A light tap is all that's needed to tell, go on to the next one."_

_So Harry moved on. He began to get frustrated after the first ten blocks yielded no results, but his frustration gave way to fear once he had failed to produce anything from the fifteenth. What if none of the woods worked? Would Bella have to put everything away? Would he be unable to make his own wand and have to settle for an unremarkable, impersonal piece of wood?_

_He raised his hammer over the sixteenth block and brought it down on the chisel. He nearly dropped both items when the chisel let out a note like a gong and a thin layer stripped itself from one side of the block, sliding down to the table._

_"Excellent, Harry!" Bella exclaimed, rising from her seat and inspecting the wood. She looked almost as relieved as he felt. "One layer will be maple. I think this particular block came from Norway. We won't know which layer it is until we've seen all of them."_

_Harry grinned at her and suddenly felt like laughing. His worries that had plagued him moments before now seemed irrational as he gazed lovingly at the dark sheet of wood before him. Tearing his eyes from it, he moved on to the next block and gave it a casual tap. A slightly lighter note sounded this time, and another sheet fell to the table._

_"Himalayan manna ash," Bella said, her smile growing. "It's pale, so it should serve as a good polar opposite to the maple. I don't know why, but wands always seem to function better when they have a good mix of light and dark wood."_

_Harry tuned her out as she lectured on, tapping the next block expectantly. Unfortunately, the eighteenth wasn't for him, so he moved to the nineteenth. It wasn't until the twenty-third block that he found another match, this one a sycamore fig from the Middle East. His fourth and final strip of wood came from an African cypress._

_Harry looked at Bella expectantly as she leaned over the table, lining the sheets up next to each other. "The rules of layering are fairly simple. Evergreens are always the inner layers, and since the cypress is your only one, that will be first. The darkest wood is generally on the outermost layer, so we'll set the maple aside for now until we can be sure. Fruit trees such as the sycamore fig always occupy a middle spot when they can, and usually lean towards the inside. That's good, since the lightest and the darkest are always next to each other, supporting the theory of the maple being on the outside. More often than not, ash trees occupy middle layers, so that seals it." She carefully stacked the sheets in order with the cypress on top before directing Harry's attention to the multitude of jars._

_"Now Harry, this second part is what frustrates most, since it involves sensing the magic within the various cores. However, your ability to sense ambient magic has already surpassed my own, which is stronger than that of either of my sisters, so I believe you won't have too much trouble with it. If you reach out to the cores mentally, like you would to assess a spell's power, most of them will feel completely dead to you. You should be able to sense some magic from a few, probably no more than five or six. We'll separate those from the rest and continue from there." Bella had arranged the cores by category. The three primary core types each occupied a different table, and the various secondary types sat atop a fourth. They wouldn't come until later._

_Harry started with the dragon heartstrings, since Bella had once told him that both of her wands had those. There were eight on the table, each a different shade of red. Harry picked up each jar, one at a time, and discovered that Bella hadn't been entirely correct. He could sense magic emanating from each one, but it was muted for all but one. It didn't look especially distinctive to Harry, and was labeled "Romanian Longhorn, Female, 14"._

_"What does the fourteen mean?" Harry asked, holding up the jar._

_"That's how many stunners it took to knock the dragon out when it was at its strongest," Bella said. "It's a fairly common way of ranking the dragons that the handlers use. Considering that the Longhorn has fairly thin scales, fourteen is an impressive number."_

_"This is the only heartstring that I could sense much magic from," Harry said, tossing the jar to Bella who caught it easily. "It felt pretty strong, though."_

_Harry continued through the phoenix feathers and unicorn hairs, finding two of each that had notable emanations._

_"All done?" Bella asked as he brought over the two jars containing unicorn hairs. "Good. This should be easy for you. Put the five of them together and pick the one that feels the strongest."_

_The comparison turned out to be a bit of a joke. When put together, the heartstring far outshone the others, making Harry's choice an easy one._

_"Now we have the wood layers and the primary core, but we still have to add two secondary cores to give the wand balance. Because you have the heartstring of a dragon, we can safely eliminate several of these ingredients, such as the powdered shell of a fire crab or the shredded manticore skin. The heartstring isn't as good with subtle magics as a phoenix feather, which has a fairly even balance, let alone a unicorn hair, which is more or less its polar opposite in terms of magical affinities. The cores you'll be sorting through aid with the arts for which power is largely irrelevant. Hold the jar with the heartstring in one hand while you do this, but go through essentially the same process with these cores. The only difference is that only two will appeal to you. I don't know why, but that's how it always works," Bella said, taking the secondary cores that wouldn't work back to the bag._

_Harry sighed and began to sort through the jars, luckily only finding two to his liking, an Augurey vocal cord and the venom from a Streeler._

_Over the next hour and a half, Bella took him through the process of finally putting the parts together. He began with the heartstring, carefully lifting it out of its jar and placing it on one edge of the cypress sheet. Bella handed him the vocal chord from the Augurey, which he wrapped around the heartstring. He then rolled the combined cores into each sheet successively, ending with the maple. Before their very eyes, the wand transformed, going from a relatively sloppy construction that had nothing holding it together to a smooth, polished piece of wood. It wasn't complete yet, though. Harry used a razor to cut the wand about half an inch down from the tip, separating it into two pieces. He took the small end and carefully gouged out most of the wood from the inside, leaving it roughly bowl-shaped. Not wanting her charge to be poisoned, Bella helped Harry pour the venom into the tiny makeshift bowl before putting the pieces back together. Both of them watched in awe as the line separating them glowed a myriad of colors momentarily before going dark, not a blemish to indicate the repaired cut._

_Harry stared reverently at his wand. He would later measure it and discover that it was thirteen inches exactly. Each of the sheets had been eighteen-by-eighteen, but when the final core was added, the wand magically shrunk to its true length._

Ollivander's voice snapped Harry back to the present. "Yes, I've always had particular fun selling wands to Black family members. It is always much more difficult. Most wands refuse to bond to a wizard that already has one, but there is an exception for everyone. We merely need to find yours. Since you're already bonded to a wand, taking your measurements would be a bit misleading." He turned to the wall and flicked his wand, summoning an unmarked rectangular box that looked no different from any other in the shop. "Let's see if the third hair from your father's unicorn does anything for you. Give it a wave, if you please."

Harry had scarcely picked it up before Ollivander snatched it back, shaking his head and muttering to himself. Over the next ten minutes, Harry knew he must have tried fifty different wands, but not a single one of them had provided anything even resembling the warm comfort that his own positively exuded.

Ollivander, who had been stooping to inspect the most recent failure suddenly straightened, a knowing smile on his face. "I should have known," he said, chuckling softly. "Let's try something unusual, shall we?" He summoned another box, this one as unremarkable as the rest. "Holly and phoenix feather, a combination that generally bursts into flames, but it did work this one time. Eleven inches, nice and supple."

Harry looked at the wand in the box. It was polished, a bit smaller and paler than his own, but it didn't look all that special to him. Still, Ollivander had won his respect, so he picked it up, feeling a familiar, if slightly weaker, warmth within his fingertips. Ollivander clapped and Bella looked distinctly pleased as a trail of white sparks shot from its tip.

"I suppose I should not be surprised that this wand in particular chose you," Ollivander said softly, riveting Harry and Bella's gazes back to his face. "The phoenix that donated the feather in this wand provided me with one other at the same time. If I had known, I would never have..." He took a deep breath. "It should not surprise me that this one chose you, since its brother is responsible for taking your parents away."

Harry nodded, taking it all in. He wondered briefly what kind of person he was, to be so unaffected by news like this. But then again, he had known who had killed his parents for quite some time. He truly didn't know how to react to this news, since it didn't seem to affect him at all.

Bella's eyes hardened, making Harry realize that there _was_ some significance that he was missing. "We'll be leaving now. Is the price still six Galleons?"

"I'm afraid it has risen to seven," Ollivander said, seeming oblivious to Bella's sudden change in mood. "The economy, wouldn't you know? Prices everywhere inflating."

"Harry, pay him," Bella said without looking away from the old man's face. "Throw in a couple extra for confidentiality."

"That won't be necessary," Ollivander said as Harry began counting Galleons. "I am bound by oath to inform Albus, as the phoenix in question belongs to him, but it shall go no further."

"It had better not," Bella snarled. "Be sure to mention only the wand. If I discover that Dumbledore is aware of anything else he shouldn't be, I will return."

"I'm sure you will," Ollivander said lightly, finally accepting the gold from Harry.

Bella pushed Harry out of the shop before the teen could say anything and into the crowded alley.

"What was that all about?" Harry asked.

"Just a moment," Bella replied, waving her wand and erecting a temporary sound barrier around them. She met his eyes and Harry nearly jumped in surprise when he saw that she was smiling. "Your wand is the brother of Voldemort's."

"But what does that _mean_?" Harry asked.

Bella shook her head in evident disappointment and elaborated. "When brother wands are forced to meet in combat, they don't work properly against each other. I haven't read up on the specifics in several years, but with two wands, you will have a huge advantage over him in combat!"

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "That _is_ good news! I'll start using it right away, since it'd probably be best if Voldemort didn't know I had two wands at all."

"I was about to suggest the same thing," Bella admitted before dispelling the sound barrier. It was easy to see that both of them were considerably happier than they had been ever since discovering the prophecy's contents.

Harry pulled out his Hogwarts letter to check the supply list. "I've already got most of these things back at home. All I really need are the books and a student potions kit. D'you want to split up and meet somewhere to eat?"

"The Leaky Cauldron is probably our best option," Bella said.

"Right, we'll meet there in half an hour," Harry said. "Er, where's the Leaky Cauldron?"

Bella sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Go east until the alley runs into it, you couldn't miss it if you tried. It's just past the Apothecary, come to think of it."

"East, right," Harry said, committing the locations to memory as they began walking. "I'd rather go to the Apothecary if you don't mind. I've been brewing the antidote to acromantula venom, but we've run out of snapdragon stems."

"That's fine," Bella said. "If you get to the Leaky Cauldron before I do, get a table in the back."

"I'll try," Harry said, not even slowing as Bella peeled away into Flourish & Blotts. His senses immediately turned outward, wary of being caught alone by an enemy. Though he knew that there was almost no chance of a Death Eater attack when the general public refused to acknowledge Voldemort's return, it couldn't hurt to be careful. He had also never been alone in a place so full of strangers before. In spite of all of his training, Harry had led a somewhat sheltered life from that perspective.

He saw several students his age passing by and happened to meet the gaze of one of them, a tall, broad-shouldered boy with a friendly face and close-cropped black hair. He offered Harry a friendly nod, which was returned, and simultaneously tightened his hold on the pretty Indian girl at his side. Harry understood the conflicting behavior easily enough, but still found it slightly amusing.

His mind still on the teens that would most likely be his classmates at Hogwarts, Harry arrived at the entrance to the Apothecary only to be rudely pushed aside by a tall man with long white-blonde hair tied back into a ponytail in the traditional pureblood style. Harry disliked him at once, and had heard enough from Bella about his distinctive hair alone to correctly assume that the man's name was Lucius Malfoy.

After entering, Harry quickly found his student kit, but left it with the display in case he needed both hands to handle the snapdragon stems. He turned to begin to look around for them and nearly tripped over what was either a very small man or an unusually tall dwarf.

"Sorry about that," Harry said, already moving on.

"Quite all right!" the man squeaked cheerfully from behind him.

Harry's search led him to the shelf next to the counter, where he found himself eavesdropping on a whispered argument between Lucius Malfoy and the wizard behind the counter.

"...told you we wouldn't serve you after what you said! You scared away five muggleborn customers yesterday, spouting off about getting on the _right_ side of things in what's to come. We don't serve bigots here, so bugger off!"

"Come now, Brown. Surely there's no need for that. I was doing them a favor, advising them to leave our world before it is taken back by force. I offer you one last chance, which I'm only granting you because your daughter is my son's age. One last chance to preserve the possibility of an alliance with the one of the purest lines in Britain."

"Are you delusional?" Brown asked incredulously. "Taken back by force? Allying with former Death Eaters? Through _marriage_ of all things?! I don't know which idea is more ludicrous. What I do know is that you need to get out. You're no longer welcome here." He had raised his voice at the end, causing Malfoy to glance around the shop for other occupants. Luckily, the shelf served its purpose, and the short man had either left, or merely couldn't be seen due to his height. Harry hoped it was the former, since the look of fury on Lucius Malfoy's face promised violence in the near future.

"You will regret this," Malfoy promised before stalking out of the shop.

Harry and Brown let out simultaneous sighs of relief when the door closed behind him, the former finally discovering the ingredient he sought on the shelf behind him. He grabbed a kit from the display by the door and was making his way to the sales counter when he felt it. The entire building had just shaken with a pulse of magic.

"Anti-Apparition wards," Harry said. When Brown looked curiously at him, he elaborated as calmly as he could. "SOMEONE JUST SET BLOODY ANTI-APPARITION WARDS AROUND THIS SHOP!"

Understanding and panic dawned on his features as one before he turned and shouted something into the room behind him, presumably to a coworker.

"I have a Portkey that should get us out of here," Harry said, but his face fell when he felt another pulse. "Never mind, they've just set up a ward for that as well."

"What should we do?" the man asked. "My family is upstairs!"

"Then we'll have to fight!" the tiny man said, emerging from behind a nearby display and causing both Harry and Brown to jump. Harry was unhappy that the old man was still there, not wanting another person to protect, but Brown's face lit up into a smile.

"Professor Flitwick! Thank Merlin you're here."

Harry's mind had barely registered the small man's title when the door opened, revealing six figures in dark robes with white masks. Harry couldn't believe the risk they were taking by exposing themselves to a public that denied their master's return. He guessed that they had at least two powerful allies outside keeping the wards together as well as some form of illusion around the shop. Without such measures in place, it would be too easy for others to discover the Death Eaters' presence.

Flitwick exploded into motion, rolling away from Harry and Brown and unleashing three banishers before anyone else had cast a single spell. Three of the Death Eaters dodged the spells, while a short, thin man was able to get a shield up in time. The giant next to him, however, was sent flying into a wall, though he was able to rise to his feet seconds later. The third spell was wide of the group, but it had served its purpose; they were scattered.

The six Death Eaters took a moment to size up their enemies when it became apparent that Flitwick was waiting for them to attack to continue his assault. One of the Death Eaters spoke up before too long. "I thought you said this place was empty. We didn't come here to kill Flitwick and a student."

"It can't be helped," Malfoy snapped. "We can't have any witnesses. The shopkeeper belongs to me. Nott, Gibbon, I expect the two of you to handle our esteemed professor. Avery, the boy. Soder, take Goyle with you and make sure there's no one in the back or upstairs."

"No!" Brown shouted, firing a Bludgeoning Hex at the two largest Death Eaters, who were moving towards the door to the back. He was forced to duck under a Killing Curse a moment later from Malfoy's wand.

Harry and Flitwick, along with their opponents, had yet to cast a spell. The small man looked at Harry pityingly. "I'll do what I can to help you," he promised.

"Help yourself," Harry snapped, taking the professor by surprise. "I can handle my own affairs." Avery seemed to take that as a challenge, because as soon as Harry fell silent, he unleashed a barrage of magic that shocked both Harry and Flitwick in its intensity. It was obvious from his expression that the diminutive professor wanted to help, but Nott and Gibbon had taken Avery's attack as a signal and were already spellcasting.

Harry recognized each of Avery's five spells as Dark, but was reluctant to reply in kind in the presence of his future professor. That was until a Severing Curse tore through one leg of his trousers, missing his thigh by mere millimeters. Harry responded with a Rupturing Curse from his new wand that might well have killed his opponent if it had connected.

Unwilling to relinquish the offensive, Harry continued his assault, mixing repulsively addictive Dark magic with the more mundane variety indiscriminately to great effect. Avery summoneded a powerful Praestruo Shield that was able to take the brunt of it, but one particularly vicious Shattering Curse finally broke it, leaving him completely vulnerable to the more legitimate Bone-Breaking Hex that followed. With no time to dodge, the Death Eater did the only thing he could, he threw his wandless arm in the way of the spell, wincing in pain as the spell connected. Clearly still able to fight, Avery ducked under a stunner and conjured a veritable swarm of poisoned needles before sending them at Harry, who banished them back at their caster with a flick of his wand.

Lucius Malfoy was toying with him. The thought raced through Blake Brown's mind as he cast every curse he could think of at his smirking foe. He was toying with him while his wife and daughter were under attack upstairs!

"Crucio," Malfoy said lazily. Brown screamed and convulsed in pain, dropping his wand and falling to the floor, an expression of exquisite agony on his face. It was intoxicating to a wizard like Malfoy, one who fully belonged to the Dark.

Flitwick looked desperately at the screaming man, wishing he could end his own conflict and come to his aid. Unfortunately, his opponents had clearly worked together before and dueled seamlessly, each possessing an uncanny awareness of the other's position.

Still, he wasn't a former Dueling Champion for nothing. Flitwick's small stature gave him an advantage in terms of avoiding enemy spellwork, and his surprising athleticism was almost unparalleled in the wizarding world. The result was frustrating for Nott and Gibbon, who had countless preconceived ideas for defeating nearly any opponent, but they couldn't keep track of the old man's location for more than a couple of seconds at a time. After several fruitless exchanges, Flitwick dashed behind Nott and summoned a shelf, ducking under it and hoping it would make contact with the man. Gibbon spotted him just in time, though, and was able to blast the shelf aside. Nott, however, was unable to shield Gibbon in turn from the glass jar of pickled Fwooper eggs that Flitwick banished into his face. The Death Eater screamed in pain as a shard embedded itself in one of his eyes. Maxwell Nott gulped audibly as his ex-professor turned to face him.

Avery's eyes widened comically as his own needles lanced back in his direction. It would take an unbelievably strong banisher to do that, which led Avery to wonder for the first time if he could win against his opponent. He was a fairly skilled duelist, but some of the curses the boy was hurling at him had taken him months, if not years, to master. It was also extremely unusual to find one his age willing to use Dark magic, and even more so to find one who wasn't already on their side. Ducking under the needles, Avery cast a spell that few Death Eaters had mastered, Snape's own Sectumsempra.

Harry's shock was evident as the curse that had killed his father approached, but still sidestepped it with relative ease. The look he now gave Avery tempted the man more than ever to surrender, but Harry clearly wouldn't accept. An unhealthy glint in his eye, Harry cast the same spell at his opponent, but slashed horizontally, making him drop flat to the floor to avoid being gutted like a fish. Harry resisted the impulse to kill that always accompanied the use of Dark magic and cast a stunner, turning around just in time to see Lucius Malfoy cast the Killing Curse once more. This time Brown was in no condition to avoid the spell.

His opponent taken care of, Malfoy looked around the room for the first time and was far from pleased with what he saw. Flitwick and the boy had both defeated their foes and were now facing him together.

He was acting without the Dark Lord's blessing, and he knew it. Their current standing orders were to lay low and not make waves within the magical community. However, when the lowly Apothecary owner had kicked him out the day before, Lucius felt that some sort of response was in order. Now, however, he honestly wondered if it would be safer to give himself over to the Aurors than to return to his master's side. Sighing in resignation, he faced his opponents squarely. "You have two options. You can fight me, or you can try to save this man's family upstairs." He noted with interest that if anything, Flitwick seemed more upset at the prospect than the boy, though both were clearly incensed.

"Let's go," Flitwick squeaked angrily, tugging on Harry's sleeve and pulling him past Malfoy, who was already making for the door. The plethora of potions ingredients surrounding them in the storeroom didn't even register in either person's mind as they stormed through the room, hoping against hope that the man's family was all right. The concern was much more personal for Flitwick, who had taught both Blake and his wife Jasmine, and was now teaching their daughter, Lavender. They raced up the staircase at the far end of the room as quietly as they could and found the door at the top already open. The corpse of Jasmine Brown was the first thing they saw. She had an expression of fear on her face that was all-too common on the victims of Death Eaters, but the absence of anything else suggested that she had simply been hit with the Killing Curse.

A scream from the adjacent room drew their attention from the scene in front of them. Flitwick led Harry into the hallway and into what must have been Lavender's bedroom. She was in the corner on her bed with the large Swedish Death Eater, Bjorne Soder, obviously having just had a Silencing Charm cast on her. Tears ran down her face as the Death Eater crudely pawed at her fairly large, bare breasts, laughing and tugging at her pants, his intentions obvious. Michael Goyle waited off to one side, an anticipatory grin on his face as he waited for his turn to come.

Harry and Flitwick both cast stunners as soon as they entered, Harry's hitting Soder, causing him to collapse onto the hysterical girl below him, while Flitwick's hit Goyle, but not before he got off a Full Body-Bind. Flitwick's wand flashed with incredible speed, deflecting it away from himself and right into Harry's face. The teen sighed inwardly as his body fell backwards, nearly losing consciousness when his head slammed into the hard wood floor. Looking out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Flitwick levitate Soder off of Lavender and remove the Silencing Charm from her before pulling the sobbing girl into an odd-looking fatherly embrace.

They found out between sobs that she had seen her mother die, and Flitwick gently informing her of her father's demise brought on a fresh round of tears. At some point, her modesty had returned to her, so Harry no longer had to distract himself from that particular sight, though he still couldn't help but be attracted to the curvaceous witch.

Harry wasn't sure how long Flitwick consoled her, but at some point she became calm enough to notice him and point out his presence to the professor, who apologetically squeaked out a "Finite Incantatem" for Harry's benefit. He had to suppress a groan a moment later when Lavender's expression of gratitude and Flitwick's continuing stammered apologies were replaced with identical expressions of shocked disbelief, telling him that his Glamour Charm had also been removed by the spell.

The picture of Harry that Bella had sent Dumbledore, the one featured in the Prophet article, had ensured that every witch and wizard in England knew exactly what he looked like, from his unchanging messy black hair to his distinctive lightning bolt-shaped scar.

"Bugger," Harry said intelligently, locking eyes with Lavender for a moment before forcibly wrenching his gaze away and rising to his feet.

"Not going anywhere, I hope," Flitwick said, his shock having worn off. "I must say, it's quite an honor to meet you, but I wish it had been under better circumstances. Terribly sorry to forget all about you, by the way."

Harry didn't know what to say. Part of him wanted to run, but he knew that he was going to be a part of this world soon, and that the pair in front of him were as favorably disposed as anyone he was likely to meet. "Don't worry about it," he finally said. "You had more important things to worry about." He blushed as he said this, determinedly looking Flitwick right in the eye, but more focused on avoiding Lavender's gaze than anything else.

The girl in question regarded him with haunted eyes and said a quiet "Thank you."

"Er, you're welcome," Harry stammered, inwardly wincing at his sudden inability to think straight. "I really should be leaving, my guardian will be worried."

"But we have to report this to the Ministry!" Flitwick exclaimed. "I'm sure your guardian would be willing to wait, given the circumstances."

"It's all right, Professor," Harry said. " Your testimony will be more than enough to put the lot of them away in Azkaban, but I really do need to leave."

Flitwick looked conflicted, but finally nodded in agreement. "I'll have to tell them about you, you know."

"Just do me a favor and don't mention some of my more questionable spells," Harry said seriously. "I only use them when I have to."

"I suppose I can keep quiet about that," Flitwick said thoughtfully. He held out his hand. "I expect I'll see you at the start of term."

"You will, sir," Harry promised, shaking his hand. He hesitantly turned to Lavender. "I'm sorry." It sounded inadequate to him, but she managed a small smile all the same. "Don't leave her alone, Professor, all right?"

"I wouldn't dream of it," Flitwick said. "Miss Brown will be safe with me."

Harry smiled at the diminutive man. "Good to hear." With that, he turned and walked out, out of sight before he could succumb to the temptation to look back.

As he walked back to the storeroom, he reapplied his Glamour Charm, not wishing to reveal himself to the general populace. The wards had fallen shortly after Lucius Malfoy had fled, presumably taking whoever was holding them up with him. As a result, several people were surveying the damage in the store, their shock evident. Unfortunately, they all turned to face him as soon as he entered.

"What the bloody hell happened here?" one man asked furiously, gesturing to Mr. Brown's corpse along with the unconscious forms of Nott, Gibbon and Avery.

"Death Eaters," Harry said tersely. "Led by Lucius Malfoy." He wasn't met with as many protests as he might have expected, but several people had expressions of profound mistrust on their faces.

"You can ask Professor Flitwick, he's upstairs with the only survivor," Harry said. "Have the Aurors been called?"

"I sent for them a minute ago," an older witch said composedly. "They said it would be a few minutes. There was an incident at the Ministry this morning that they're still sorting out."

Harry nodded and made to leave, only to find his exit blocked by a burly wizard. "Hold on a minute, you can't leave until the Aurors get here," he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Harry sighed impatiently. "You don't need me here. Flitwick and the girl upstairs have plenty of evidence between them to convict all of these Death Eaters. I have to go, and if you don't move out of my way, I'll show you exactly what I did to him," he said, gesturing to Avery's form.

The man looked a bit flustered, but stood his ground.

"Oh let the boy go, Wood, it's obvious whose side he's on," another wizard said from the other side of the room, where he was unmasking Nott.

The burly fellow glowered at him, but finally moved aside. Harry pushed past him without a word.

Once outside, Harry spotted Bella immediately. She was coming from the Leaky Cauldron, looking worried, at least until she spotted him. When they reached each other, she lifted a finger to her lips to silence him. "I heard about the attack, some fool came into the Leaky Cauldron babbling about a fight in the Apothecary for the world to hear. Tell me about it when we get home." Without waiting for a reply, she grabbed Harry's arm and apparated them both away.


	4. Chapter 3

**The Blackest Potter**

A/N: This chapter was a beast to write. I've had to cram a lot of information into just a couple of conversations, so the flow is far from what I'd like it to be. Think of it as a necessary evil.

Unfortunately, this might well be my last update of the summer for this story. My workload has been on the rise, and it won't stop until just before I return to school. I'm hoping to get another chapter of Stolen Magic out before then, and that's taking priority for the moment. I am most of the way done with it, if it makes you feel any better.

As of right now, ficwad is still down. It should be up by the end of this weekend, but I'm still pretty concerned. The homepage link on my profile here will take you to my profile there, but I've also submitted the uncensored version of Stolen Magic on another site, firewhiskey(dot)net. The review count there is essentially nonexistent, but I'm just using it as a supplement at this point. This doesn't really have any meaning for this story...I just thought I'd let you guys know.

Finally, I've posted a very anti-Hermione and Ginny oneshot on every site that features my stories. Be warned: Harry/Hermione shippers have already flamed the shit out of it. While it's not that great, I wanted to get a bit of the anti-Hermione out of my system before introducing her character in any of my stories. We're not there yet, but we will be fairly soon both in this and in Stolen Magic.

**Chapter 3**

Bella nodded in satisfaction as Harry finished his story. She didn't need to ask if he had left anything out. "The warding around the place was done too quickly and too completely for it to be only one person. Who do you think was behind it?"

"Cassandra Yaxley was Voldemort's ward crafter during the First War, wasn't she?" Harry asked. He waited for Bella's nod of confirmation before continuing. "She was probably at the head of it, but there's no way of telling who helped her."

"If you had to guess?"

"Lawrence Crabbe, but only because his best friend was there."

Bella nodded again and rose to her feet, motioning for Harry to do the same. "You've used a lot of magic today. Go on upstairs and get some sleep. Don't forget, we have Dumbledore visiting tomorrow morning."

* * *

"Crucio!"

Lucius Malfoy fell to the ground before him, jerking around awkwardly and screaming in pain. Harry smiled and released the curse.

"Lucius, I'm shocked! Were you really so naive? Even if your attack had gone off without a hitch, I would be unable to look past the fact that you ignored the one and only order I've given you since my return. Tell me, what was that order?"

"Y-you said to avoid arousing any suspicion at all costs," Malfoy stuttered. From the way his voice sounded, he had been screaming for a while.

"And did you, or did you not, do the exact opposite of that?" Harry asked, his voice smooth and cruel.

"I did, milord," Malfoy said.

"You did indeed," Harry said. "I find myself at a quandary right now, Lucius. I would like nothing better than to kill you where you kneel, but alas, I am quite short on manpower at the moment. Every Death Eater is essential right now, no matter how pitiful and selfish. What would you suggest?"

"I can recruit more loyal–"

"And who would you recruit? Children? No, it isn't time for them yet. But what to do, then, what to do." Harry shook his head, his face twisted into a mocking smile. "I have no choice but to move up our other plans. You will be taking over for Macnair until he returns. Do you understand?"

Though Malfoy looked terrified the prospect of his assigned task, he nodded.

"Excellent. Leave me now, and send in Yaxley. You aren't the only one who has disobeyed my orders, after all."

Harry woke up screaming.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore hummed tunelessly as he walked to breakfast the following morning. He was in a good mood, considerably better than even his usual cheer, and that could be attributed to one thing.

"Harry Potter replied to his Hogwarts letter this year," Albus told Filius Flitwick, the only other professor at the school who could match him smile-for-smile. After receiving Bella's response to the letter four years ago, Albus had carefully monitored their outgoing mail, intercepting Harry's letters in the intervening years. He didn't want the boy to feel nagged, after all.

"That's wonderful!" Filius exclaimed, displaying the same range of happiness that Albus possessed. "Did I mention meeting him yesterday?"

The staff table's collective response to that extraordinary statement was immediate. A sudden bought of coughing and sputtering indicated all eavesdroppers. Albus, who was choking down a bite of sausage, only had a second to be glad that Severus wasn't around before poor Filius was effectively assaulted by the his colleagues' questions.

"You _met_ him?" Minerva McGonagall asked furiously. "And you didn't see fit to tell us until just now?"

"I was being questioned by the Ministry until late last night about the attack on the Browns," Filius reminded her. "I hope you're not too cross about the fact that I deemed the deaths of Miss Brown's family as a bit more important than the identity of the boy that helped me save her."

A moment of silence followed that statement, but it didn't last long. "That's where you met him?" Septima Vector asked. "Then again, I suppose it makes more sense for him to be fighting off Death Eaters than anyone else."

"Indeed I wouldn't mentally associate any of our current students with such a conflict," Albus said, taking control of the situation.

"Enough about that, what's the boy like?" Aurora Sinistra asked, her eyes alight with curiosity.

"I really didn't get much of a chance to speak with him," Filius confessed. "I feel a bit bad, truth be told. After we had gone upstairs and seen poor Jasmine's body, we heard a scream from young Miss Brown's room. Harry and I went inside and stunned the two Death Eaters present, but not before the one I was facing got off a full body bind. I unthinkingly deflected it right into poor Harry's face and then forgot all about him for who knows how long while I was tending to Miss Brown."

Albus smiled in amusement, but he was the only one able to find humor in the story.

"It wasn't your fault, Filius, surely the boy knows that," Pomona Sprout said in a hollow voice. The death of her favorite student, Cedric Diggory hit her hard, and Blake Brown had been one of her Hufflepuffs as well.

"He didn't seem angry," Filius ventured.

"Then he probably wasn't," Albus said. "What I find myself most curious about is what House he'll be sorted into."

"I'm sure you assume he'll be a Gryffindor, like his parents," Aurora said.

"And why shouldn't he be?" Minerva asked dangerously.

"No reason at all," the astronomy professor replied. "But I think whoever raised him will have a stronger effect on what house he'll be in than the boy's lineage. Can any of you picture a Gryffindor kidnapping him like that?"

"Not a freshly sorted one, at least," Albus agreed. "But remember the Sorting Hat's favorite joke. He only sorts them at eleven because if he tried to at fifteen, the lot would belong to Slytherin!"

Aurora said nothing, content with smiling in satisfaction.

The meal continued on that vein until Severus arrived, when Filius chose to ask him which house he thought the Potter boy was likely to be in.

"I don't much care, as long as it isn't my own," was the potions master's biting reply.

Albus decided it was as good a time as any to leave when the rest of the staff burst into gales of laughter.

He had received a letter the previous night inviting him to take a provided Portkey to Harry's residence and finally meet his guardian. The Portkey would only work for one person, which told him that their trust in him was limited.

A casual glance at his watch told him that he only had another six minutes until the Portkey's activation. Even with the deadline so close, Albus kept his pace leisurely until he reached his office. After climbing the spiral staircase, there was only a minute remaining. He quickly summoned the Sorting Hat and swapped it with his own, ignoring the enchanted object's vocal objections.

"Not now, Alistair," Dumbledore said, summoning the Portkey from his desk. "I am about to take you to meet someone very special."

"The Potter boy, eh? I'll be the judge of just how special he really is," the hat said. "Tell me, have you even met him?"

"Not since he was a baby," Albus admitted.

"Then don't be so sure. He could be anything from an arrogant fool to a sniveling coward," Alistair warned.

"He has already fought Death Eaters independently of his guardian, and I have reason to believe that the two of them defeated a team of eight Aurors the very same day."

The Sorting Hat didn't have time to respond before the Portkey activated, whisking Albus and his passenger to the southern end of the British Isles.

Upon landing, Albus completely ignored the sparsely furnished den around him, instead focusing on the other two people present. His eyes fell on Harry first, noting his father's hair and his mother's eyes. But he had expected more or less what he saw from the boy, it was his companion that caught the old wizard completely by surprise.

"Bellatrix Lestrange," he said, carefully avoiding any movements that might be construed as threatening.

"Bella Black," the beauty before him corrected with a soft smile. "I imagine you have questions."

"Have a seat, Professor, neither one of us means you any harm," Harry said. Albus noticed for the first time that the boy looked a bit under the weather, despite his healthy build, from a combination of glassy eyes and pale skin.

Trusting his instincts, Albus conjured his signature purple armchair and sat down, turning to the boy with a look of kind concern. "Did something happen to you, Harry?"

"I let my Occlumency shields slip again last night," Harry said dully. "Voldemort was torturing Lucius Malfoy and Cassandra Yaxley for disobedience."

"The attack yesterday," Albus stated rather than asked.

"Because so many Death Eaters were captured, he's moving up his plans. Malfoy is taking over Macnair's next assignment, whatever that is," Harry said.

Albus nodded, taking it all in. "Perhaps we should start from the beginning. I must confess, I'm having trouble focusing on anything other than the you being Harry's elusive guardian, Bellatrix."

"Yes, well after Voldemort's curse backfired, I saw an opportunity and seized it."

"You killed your husband," Albus said, his tone openly curious with only a hint of disapproval.

"I did," Bella said. "I fled with Harry that very night."

"Where did you go?" Albus asked. That was one of the questions he had been most desperate to have answered.

"Cameroon," Bella answered, privately enjoying the look of shock on the aged headmaster's face.

"How did you persuade one of the villages to let you in?" Albus asked. Wizarding Cameroon was famous for its separatist ideas, after all.

"The chief of Nanultka, the village we chose, demanded two things of me," Bella said. "He was familiar with the Death Eaters, and had seen the Mark on my arm, so he demanded that I train the villagers in combat."

"And his other demand?"

"He wanted me to become his concubine," Bella said dryly. "That's when I killed him. The next chief was reasonable enough to strike the second request."

"She hasn't killed since," Harry said, seeing Albus' reaction.

"I wasn't averse to the possibility, though," Bella admitted. "Now the only people I'd seriously consider killing are my former comrades. And perhaps a few politicians. You have Harry to thank for that change."

"How long did you stay in Africa?" Albus asked.

"We left when my first Hogwarts letter arrived," Harry said.

"You were afraid of being tracked?" the aged headmaster guessed.

"It obviously isn't possible, given the fact that you didn't know where we were, but seeing Nanultka there on the envelope was enough for me," Bella said. "We've been living here ever since."

"We're in Kent," Harry said, seeing Albus' questioning look. "One of Bella's Black family homes."

"Indeed," he said, smiling at the both of them. "Is it safe to assume from yesterday's events that Harry has kept up with his various courses while in your care?"

"Harry could probably pass his N.E.W.T.s with ease already," Bella said, a note of pride in her voice.

"I have little doubt," Albus said. "Harry, as you might already know, students are required to take certain core subjects, but there are additional electives that you may choose from."

"I've chosen Arithmancy, Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures," Harry said.

"He's as well-prepared for those classes as he is for the rest," Bella promised. "We haven't had many opportunities for practical exams in Care of Magical Creatures, but advanced lessons from various texts along with his experiences in Africa when he was younger should more than make up the difference."

"No doubt Professor Grubbly-Plank will agree with that assessment," Albus said amicably before changing the subject. "Harry, I would like to discuss the visions you've had, but first there is one last thing that we must take care of regarding your upcoming time at Hogwarts. A tradition, if you will, that I don't want you to miss out on."

"You're going to sort him," Bella guessed, noticing the tattered hat sitting atop the headmaster's head for the first time.

"I am not going to do anything," Albus said, his eyes twinkling. "The Sorting Hat will be doing the honors." Harry eyed the proffered hat apprehensively even as he reached out to accept it.

"Go on, my boy," the hat rasped, causing Harry to jump. "We haven't got all day, you know."

Harry sighed and placed the ancient hat over his head.

"Let's see what we have here...if you don't mind lowering your Occlumency barriers just a tad. Everything in your head is confidential, you have my word on that."

_What good is the word of a hat?_ Harry thought to himself.

"Much better than the word of a wizard, in most cases," the hat replied. "There we are, was that so hard?"

Harry didn't answer.

"I didn't think it was. Now you've got plenty of courage, but I'm afraid that no one is as brave as a child. Our fear becomes far too logical as we grow older. I haven't sorted someone your age in well over two centuries, so this is a bit complicated. I'll have to use a whole different set of standards."

_Just keep me out of Slytherin_, Harry thought. _I don't want to have to worry about Death Eater spawn sleeping in the next bed over._

"No, I don't suppose I would fancy that much myself. I'm afraid I can't put you into Gryffindor with good conscience, either. When it comes right down to it, Harry, you seem to prefer your solitude. Granted, you haven't had much contact with your peers to compare it with, but no, I believe that you will want to spend a lot of time alone. Neither Gryffindor nor Hufflepuff suits that sort, and you've already decided against Slytherin. It's a good thing you've got a good head on those shoulders, my boy, because you're best suited for RAVENCLAW!"

Albus clapped, looking distinctly pleased at the result. Bella was nodding with approval as well.

"Is that the last of the Hogwarts business?" Harry asked as he handed the hat back, not particularly looking forward to their next topic of discussion.

The headmaster seemed to sense Harry's unease. "I'm afraid so, Harry. Your letter covered every detail of his return quite nicely, but I'm afraid that I must ask you to relive last night's vision."

"I already told you what happened. It was mostly torture. Macnair is gone somewhere, and until he returns; Malfoy is going to be doing whatever his next task was supposed to be. That's all."

"Very well," Albus said thoughtfully. "What do you know of Walden Macnair?"

"I know what Bella has told me," Harry said confidently. "He's been working for the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures at the Ministry since he had to spend his family fortune to stay out of Azkaban. He's a sadist, and doesn't much care who or what his victims are. Magically, he's only marginally above average, and his knowledge of the Dark Arts is less than that of most of the other Death Eaters."

"Very succinct," Albus said. "Do you have any idea what either his current job, or the one Lucius Malfoy is taking over for him might be?"

"Voldemort was talking as if he was away, and as if communication would be difficult," Harry mused. "That eliminates foreign recruitment, but beyond that, he could be doing just about anything. Maybe he's negotiating with the giants?"

"That is my fear," Albus said. "I have sent envoys to the giants as well, but without the Ministry behind me, I do not expect much success."

"Sir, did Voldemort make any other grabs at power before this last year?" Harry asked, seeking to divert the conversation away from his visions.

"He did, as a matter of fact," Albus said. "Why do you ask, Harry?"

"His scar was hurting a lot during what would have been his first year," Bella explained.

"That was indeed when his main attempt occurred. He possessed one of our Professors, and I was forced to kill him in order to flush out Voldemort's spirit, which subsequently escaped. He was after the Philosopher's Stone."

"You have one of those?" Bella asked incredulously while Harry looked on in confusion.

"A friend of mine once did, but we destroyed it after such a near miss," Albus assured her. "The next two years were far less eventful. I believe Lucius Malfoy attempted to murder the Weasley family's youngest with an artifact belonging to his master, but fortunately Arthur discovered it in time and was able to wrestle it from his daughter's grasp. I destroyed it that very day."

"When did that happen?" Bella asked while Harry simultaneously said, "You call that less eventful?"

"It happened the following year," Albus said, ignoring Harry's incredulity. "Since then, I'm sure you know as much as I do. Voldemort's mystery servant replaced Alastor Moody, killing him just before he escaped from Hogwarts. Alastor joined the short list of casualties that signify the beginning of this Second War."

"Bertha Jorkins, Barty Crouch and Cedric Diggory," Harry whispered, a haunted look entering his eyes.

"And judging from your attack on the Ministry yesterday, you are already aware of the prophecy's contents."

"I am," Harry said, looking up into the headmaster's eyes. "Will you be able to help me, sir?" It came out as more of a plea than anything else, and it broke Albus' heart to see someone so young have such a thing forced upon him.

"I shall teach you as much as I possibly can," he promised. "And I will do my best to fight by your side when the time comes."

"Thank you," Bella whispered, tears of relief in her eyes. Harry's eyes were dry, but they held no less emotion.

"Now I'm afraid we must discuss our more immediate concerns," Albus said after a giving them a minute to collect themselves. "If you would prefer to remain here for the remainder of the summer, I won't stop you, but you are both welcome at the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix."

Harry and Bella exchanged looks before the former spoke up. "Who's staying there at the moment?"

"A great deal of us are in and out," Albus said. "The Weasley family, including their four youngest are staying there, as are the Longbottoms. Both families have sons your age, Harry. The Longbottoms, incidentally, might have your actions to thank for their very lives, Bella."

"What makes you say that?" she inquired.

"The very day after Harry's kidnapping, several Death Eaters attacked the Longbottom's home, searching for information concerning their master's whereabouts. Frank and Alice were able to fend them off until help arrived, but one of the attackers was Rabastan Lestrange. Had you not killed his brother, the extra fighter might have allowed their attack to succeed."

"Is anyone else living there?" Bella asked, not too keen on discussing her former brother-in-law.

"Your cousin, Sirius, along with his wife, Anastasia, though she is currently in France attempting to rally support for our cause. Remus Lupin and his wife, Melinda also live there. I know that both men are eager to meet you, Harry. They were close friends with your father at school."

Harry nodded, having already heard as much from Bella. "Anyone else?"

"I don't believe so," Albus said, stroking his long beard thoughtfully. "But as I already said, many other Order members are coming and going throughout the day. I'm sure Bella will meet them, assuming, of course, that you're willing to join the Order?"

"And Harry?" Bella asked, raising an eyebrow. Her charge had an eerily similar look on his face.

"He will be welcome to join when he is of age, of course, but until then–"

"'Fraid not, Headmaster," Harry said. "If you really expect me to kill Voldemort, with or without help, I'm going to have to know everything about our side of the conflict."

"Besides, I would tell him all about the meetings either way," Bella said. "I don't keep unnecessary secrets from Harry."

Albus sighed, removing his half-moon spectacles and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Are you absolutely certain that you wish to join?"

"What motivation could you possibly have for keeping me out?" Harry asked. "It wouldn't be too bad if I wasn't, I suppose, since Bella would tell me everything I needed to know, but I'd really like to be able to offer my perspective. You never know, I might just come in handy."

"And you wouldn't leak any information to your fellow students?" Albus asked skeptically.

"I don't even _know_ my fellow students," Harry reminded him. "There's no real conflict of interest for me there."

"But you must plan on making friends at Hogwarts," Dumbledore persisted.

"It seems likely," Harry agreed. "But if they can't handle the idea of me keeping a few secrets from them, then what kind of friends would they be? The Sorting Hat put me in Ravenclaw for a reason."

"He's got you there, Albus," the hat put in from its perch atop his head.

"Yes, I suppose he does, old friend," Albus agreed. "We're having a meeting tomorrow night. I think it would be best for the two of you to make your first appearance then. I shall warn everyone in the meantime of your identity, Bella. In fact, while we're on the subject, how are you planning on revealing yourself to the public?"

Bella paused and cast a sideways glance at Harry, who was carefully studying the far wall. "We're having a bit of a disagreement on that subject," she confessed with a sigh. "I want to wait at least a year, until Harry has established himself."

"And I think there's no reason for her to wait at all," Harry said.

"Like it or not, Harry, you're already famous. You being raised by a Death Eater, or even a former one, will be big news, and it won't reflect well on you at all. You'll be under suspicion before you even start there!"

"I already am!" Harry protested passionately. Albus noted some of the boy's color returning and had to suppress a smile. "What kind of reaction d'you think keeping your identity a secret will garner? At least if you come out of it now, no one will be able to say that we've got anything to hide."

Bella looked at Albus, silently pleading for help. "I'm sorry, Bella, but Harry's right. You have everything to lose by waiting."

"You really want me to?" she asked Harry once more.

"It'd make me feel loads better about Hogwarts," Harry said.

"I'll probably have to go to trial at some point," Bella countered.

"I will defend you," Albus promised. "My track record in such situations is very good."

Bella sighed again. "All right, I'll do it."

"Finally!" Harry exclaimed, resting his hand on his guardian's arm, as much of a public display of affection as had ever passed between the two.

"Shall I contact the Minister?" Albus asked.

"Maybe in a few days," Bella replied. "After the Order meeting, at least."

"All right," Albus said, looking slightly disappointed. "I had hoped to be able to tell the entire staff at Hogwarts as one, but I'll wait and only tell the Order members for now."

"Which professors are Order members?" Harry asked curiously.

"Professors McGonagall and Flitwick are, of course, as is Professor Snape. Additionally, the new Defense professor–"

"_Snape?_" Harry asked, venom in his tone. "As in Severus Snape? The man who murdered my father?"

"Dear me!" Albus exclaimed. "My boy, I can assure you that Professor Snape would never–"

"Oh but he would," Bella interrupted. "I was there, don't forget. Severus Snape killed James Potter, and seemed to enjoy it, if the poor man's mangled corpse was any indicator." Albus noticed that Harry seemed completely stoic during Bella's statement, suggesting that he already knew the details according to Bella of his father's demise.

"Severus assured me that Peter Pettigrew did the deed," he protested weakly.

"Do you really think that a little rat like him could best James Potter alone?" Bella asked incredulously. "He was killed by a curse that Snape himself invented, one that I know for a fact Peter Pettigrew never learned to use properly."

"Sectumsempra," Harry supplied, still looking murderous.

"What good could Severus Snape possibly convince you that he could do for the Order?" Bella asked.

"He is our spy within Voldemort's inner circle. At great personal risk, I might add," Albus said.

"Professor, I think I've detected a flaw in your reasoning," Harry said politely, though his voice was shaking with suppressed emotion.

"Go on," Albus prompted, looking somewhat apprehensive.

"You presumably trust Snape to tell you what's going on with Voldemort and his Death Eaters, right?"

"Yes, that is correct," Albus agreed.

"And you don't torture him at all, or even threaten him, right?"

"If I did, I would be no better than Voldemort," Albus said.

"So he has Voldemort's threat of death versus your threat of...what, scolding?"

"I do not think that is a fair comparison–" Albus began.

"Snape is not on our side," Bella said decisively, cutting him off again. "The sooner you realize that and begin to misinform him, the better off we'll all be. Until then, I'm afraid we cannot trust you with any more valuable information, as it seems almost inevitable for it to fall into the wrong hands."

Albus opened his mouth to reply, but Harry wouldn't let him speak just yet. "Even if you trust him, we don't. Just humor us and keep him out of the loop for a while. Give him occasional tidbits, enough to keep him convinced that you trust him, but it won't do any harm to wait and see, will it?"

"No, I don't suppose it will," Albus finally admitted. "But I am not the only one who must play a part for this to work. You both must pretend to agree with me about his loyalties, can you do that?"

"I think so," Harry said with a bit of uncertainty, looking to Bella for her opinion.

"We'll manage, Albus," she said, knowing that the biggest risk would be Harry's first meeting with the man. "This complicates things a great deal. As I'm sure you know, Snape is an excellent Legilimens. How many Order members are trained to block him out?"

"Not nearly enough," Albus said. "Minerva and Filius both have adequate shields to protect their stray thoughts, but neither one of them could defend against a direct attack from him. Of the rest, I have confidence in the Blacks, the Longbottoms, Remus Lupin, Elphias Doge and Kingsley Shacklebolt."

"That's not a very long list, but it isn't short either," Harry said.

"As long as the others don't know any essential details, we don't have to worry," Bella added. "It's safe to assume that Snape already knows what you've told the lot of them even if you didn't tell him directly, so we can assume that any information shared up until now has been compromised. My question to you is this: How much damage does that do?"

"He knows that we are guarding the prophecy," Albus said.

"You mean the one I destroyed?" Harry asked innocently.

"You destroyed the record?" Albus asked in disbelief.

"Yes, but as of now, the three of us and the Unspeakables are the only ones aware of that fact. I see no reason to make it big news."

"I cannot ask Order members to risk their lives guarding nothing," Albus pointed out.

"They must not be guarding it all the time, or we would have encountered someone," Harry said.

"We were both disillusioned at the time," Bella offered, looking at Albus.

"We always have someone in an invisibility cloak stationed there," Albus added, suddenly seeming uncomfortable for some reason.

"Fine, so someone was probably there. But if we were able to slip past them so easily, what's the point of even stationing someone there?" Harry asked.

"We will have to add new measures to ensure that no one can slip past, even if it's only to discover that the prophecy is no longer there," Albus said.

"When you do that, change your orders," Bella suggested. "Equip them with emergency Portkeys and tell them to use them if they even think someone is attacking. Have them report to you immediately afterwards, of course, so they don't think anything is amiss."

"It isn't a perfect plan," Albus said, "but it will work for the time being."

"What else have you made them all aware of?" Bella asked.

"While I have not explicitly stated anything, someone of Professor Snape's intelligence could easily use what information I've given on the subject to infer that I have sent Rubeus Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts, as an envoy to the giants. He also may have guessed that the other person with him is Madam Maxime, headmistress of Beauxbatons."

"If they haven't been already, then they're bound to be attacked by Death Eaters at some point over there," Bella said.

"Unless Voldemort himself is at their side, attacking that pair would not be a wise course of action," Albus said confidently.

"What else?" Bella pressed.

"I do not think there is anything else," Albus said after a moment's thought. "Severus only attends Order meetings when he has information to report, and even then rarely stays for the entire duration."

"Interesting actions for a spy to take," Harry noted.

"I have promised him to keep him informed should anything important come to my attention," Albus admitted.

"Of course you have," Bella said, rolling her eyes.

"Remember, I am not yet convinced that what you say about his loyalties is true," Albus said, seeming slightly angry for the first time. "If we are going to keep coming back to this argument, I think it would be best if we parted sooner rather than later."

"Will you send a Portkey for us on Tuesday?" Bella asked, rising from her seat.

"I will," Albus said. "It will come with a note attached. You both must memorize the note and burn it before taking the Portkey."

"Sounds simple enough," Harry said. "Security measures, I take it?"

"Indeed," Albus said. "Our headquarters is under a Fidelius Charm, which only remains strong if the secret remains unshared verbally. Written messages, luckily, circumvent that particular flaw in the charm."

"Maybe we should add the Fidelius Charm to our curriculum," Bella said thoughtfully, looking at Harry.

"No need to add anything new, _Professor_," Harry said with a touch of sarcasm. "I thought we agreed that I'd be able to relax this summer."

"I wasn't serious about the charm," Bella said. "Besides, I can't teach you something that complex unless I can already cast it, which I can't."

"And I'm afraid you won't be able to relax for the entire summer anyway," Albus added. "You have summer assignments that must be completed."

"What?" Harry asked. "Why weren't those in the letter?"

"The professors usually give them out individually at the end of the year," Albus said. "I'll send them along with the Portkey."

"Until Tuesday, then," Harry said, holding out his hand. Albus shook it warmly. After a similar farewell to Bella, the headmaster paused for a moment.

"Something wrong?" Bella asked.

"My apologies," Albus said, "it's just that the Portkey you sent was one-way."

"You're keyed into the wards now," Bella explained. "You can make your own Portkey or merely apparate."

"Then I shall," Albus said, drawing his wand with a flourish and tapping the bottle cap that had brought him there earlier. It glowed blue briefly before disappearing, taking the headmaster along with it.

As soon as he was gone, Harry flopped back down on the seat behind him and let out a breath. "Talking to him is exhausting."

Bella smirked. "I don't think I've ever heard it put quite like that before." Her expression turned serious. "Do you think you'll be able to handle seeing Snape?"

"It'll be tough," Harry admitted, running both hands through his messy hair in frustration. "But it won't just be the Order, will it? Maybe I wouldn't join up if that was the case, but I've got to be one of his students. There's no getting around him, so I'll do what I have to."

"That's all that you can do," Bella said. "I have trouble imagining the man as anything more or less than the unpleasant monster he was, but he may have outwardly changed. Be ready for anything, and don't allow him to lull you into a false sense of security."

"Of everything he could possibly do to me, I don't think inspiring trust is high on the list," Harry said dryly.

"Perhaps not," Bella agreed. "Be wary around the others as well. Voldemort may well have another spy planted in our midst."

"Is there anyone we can be sure of?" Harry asked.

"Besides Albus? Not without extensive contact with them," Bella replied, shaking her head. "I doubt we'll even be sure by the end of the summer. Even the children are in doubt."

"If you're worrying about me being too trusting, it won't be a problem," Harry said.

"I worry about everything," Bella said grimly.

* * *

Harry and Bella were eating breakfast the next morning when a Daily Prophet owl swooped in through the open window, depositing their paper before taking its leave. Muggle parents often elected to read the wizarding paper to help add to their knowledge of the world that their children were now a part of, so no one had so much as raised an eyebrow when a Muggle named Becky Holdsclaw took out a prescription four years earlier.

Harry looked down at the front page and winced as he saw yet another copy of the most common photograph in the entire wizarding world.

"Er, there's an article about me," Harry said bemusedly.

"What?" Bella asked sharply, looking up from her breakfast.

"It looks like Professor Flitwick gave an interview to some Prophet reporter and gave her the facts," Harry said slowly, scanning the article. "Hmm, either Flitwick gave me far too much credit in the interview, or this Skeeter woman only used a tiny bit of the facts." He handed the paper across the table to Bella. "Take a look."

Bella's eyebrows creased as she looked down, carefully taking in the story in front of her. "She was very careful to avoid using the term 'Death Eater', apparently."

"With the Ministry denying Voldemort's return, is that really a surprise?" Harry asked.

"No," Bella said.

"At least she had the good sense not to interview Lavender," Harry said, pitying the girl, who was undoubtedly reading the very same article.

Bella snorted. "Rita Skeeter is the most vile reporter I've ever heard of. She only didn't mention the girl directly because she couldn't get any juicy details out of her. There's a slight chance that Flitwick was able to protect her, but only slight. Skeeter is famous for getting impossible stories."

"Yet another wonderful facet of our world," Harry said, the novelty of the world he was now a part of having faded completely. "Is everything really that corrupted here?"

"Yes it is," Bella said. "But we'll change that."


	5. Chapter 4

**The Blackest Potter**

A/N: Long story short, my life is very busy, and my muse is equally lazy. There is, however, one thing you need to know. No matter what site you're reading this on, my profile on fanfiction(dot)net has a lot of stuff that you probably want to read if you like my other stories, and are curious about my future projects.

I don't want to keep you guys waiting longer than I have to, so enjoy the chapter and please remember to review!

**Chapter 4**

"This is one thing I'm glad that I didn't inherit," Bella commented, wrinkling her nose up in disgust.

"We have had many years to improve the interior," Dumbledore said with a smile. He stood with Bella and Harry on the walkway in front of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, the pair having arrived moments earlier via Portkey. The building itself was a fairly large manor, but it somehow seemed more like a shanty to anyone able to see it. Its stone walls had built up a truly astonishing amount of grime from years of being under complex Weather Protection Charms, and its windows were almost black, as if they had been burned.

"If the inside's so nice, why are we standing around out here?" Harry asked, slightly nervous in such an unfamiliar setting.

"Why indeed," Dumbledore echoed, pulling the door open and gesturing for Bella and Harry to enter before him. The entryway was surprisingly modern, suggesting that Dumbledore had been telling the truth, that the Order really had renovated the place in the recent past. They didn't have much time to look at their surroundings, though.

"You must be Harry, dear," a kind-faced woman with bright red hair said, striding up to meet them. She seemed on the verge of giving him a hug, but then thought better of it. "Everyone is in the next room over, if you'd like to go and meet them."

"This is Molly Weasley," Dumbledore said. "Molly, allow me to introduce Harry Potter and Bella Black."

The Weasley woman's expression soured slightly at Bella's name, but she was all smiles again a second later. "Lovely to meet you both."

"Likewise," Bella said softly, a smile that Harry knew to be fake on her face. He only managed a nod himself. A faint murmuring noise had permeated the room, causing Harry, Bella and Mrs. Weasley to look around curiously. Dumbledore only smiled.

"Would you lot go to your rooms already!" Mrs. Weasley shouted a minute later once she had discerned the source of the noise. A gaggle of redheads and a pair of brown-haired children of varying ages were whispering to each other at the top of the staircase. At Mrs. Weasley's command, they scattered.

"Albus, I'm afraid we're going to have to use an Imperturbable Charm tonight," Mrs. Weasley said tiredly. "I won't have gotten all of Fred and George's extendable ears from just the one purge. It always takes at least two or three to get everything."

"It's quite all right," Dumbledore said, still smiling jovially. "I'm sure that Harry would be happy to oblige, wouldn't you?"

"Er, I'm underage," Harry said, unsure of what Dumbledore was playing at.

"Of course you are, my apologies," Dumbledore said. "It's so easy to forget now that you're joining the Order." Mrs. Weasley's expression tightened noticeably at that, and she sent what she probably felt was a subtle glare at Bella, silently blaming her for Harry's upcoming induction.

Harry nodded in understanding. Dumbledore was using Mrs. Weasley's inability to hide her emotions to show him that his joining the Order would make waves, and that the tendency was clearly to blame his guardian for his own choices.

"Shall we, then?" Bella asked Harry pointedly, gesturing the same doorway that Mrs. Weasley had pointed out earlier. The door was open a crack, but not wide enough for Harry to spot anyone.

Rather than reply directly, Harry forced a smile and strode purposefully towards the door, pushing it open without preamble. A small crowd of perhaps a dozen or so individuals was gathered, all seeming fairly at ease with one another. At Harry's entrance, they looked up as one and as quickly as he had entered, Harry found himself surrounded by unfamiliar faces as they pressed in on him.

"It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Potter, I–"

"Diggle's the name, my boy, Dedalus Diggle–"

"I've always wanted to thank you for–"

"It's amazing, the resemblance to your father is quite–"

"Professor Flitwick!" Harry exclaimed, slipping past the crowd with no small amount of relief to greet his future professor.

"It's good to see you again, my boy," Flitwick squeaked, offering his hand to Harry, who latched onto it like a lifeline. The diminutive professor turned to face the room at large. "You should have seen him fighting Avery yesterday, possibly the best young duelist I've seen in all my years!"

"Some of us have already been on the receiving end of his skills," a pretty girl with bright green hair and a heart-shaped face said, chuckling to herself. "I'm Tonks, by the way."

"That sounds like a surname," Harry said, shaking her hand. He didn't recognize her from the fight in the Ministry, but she could well be poking fun at some of the others.

"That's because little Nymphadora doesn't like her first name very much," Bella's opponent from the Atrium put in, smiling at Harry. "I'm Sirius Black, by the way, your godfather." He leaned forward for his own handshake until Tonks poked his side with her wand.

"Oi! What have I told you about using that name?" she demanded.

Harry was distracted from the pair's amusing banter by another familiar face, his own main opponent from that same fight. "Kingsley Shacklebolt," the black Auror said, shaking Harry's hand with a smile. He had a very deep, comforting voice, and Harry felt instantly at ease in his presence. "And this surly fellow over here is Frank Longbottom."

"Glad we're on the same side," Frank said gruffly, taking Harry's hand once Kingsley had released it.

"So am I," Harry said with a nervous laugh. He was saved from further response by a man who he vaguely recognized, but couldn't recall from where. He looked young, but showed several signs of premature aging. His brown hair was already streaked with gray, and he had the beginnings of age lines around his mouth. Still, his eyes twinkled when they met Harry's. "Remus Lupin."

"Bella's told me loads about you," Harry said, shaking the werewolf's hand enthusiastically. And she had. Remus Lupin was an individual whose skills and intelligence were respected by both sides of the war. Unfortunately, mentioning Bella's name was not a good idea. His expression twisted briefly, but it was gone a moment later. He obviously had some sort of problem with Harry's guardian.

More noticeable was the reaction from Sirius. His face scrunched up in disgust even quicker than Molly Weasley's had, and showed no signs of changing back anytime soon.

A few other members had pulled their gazes away from Harry in favor of Bella, who was still standing near the entrance with Dumbledore.

"Hello there, my name is Dedalus Diggle," a wiry man with watery green eyes said immediately, not taking his eyes off of Bella's face for a second. Harry could almost hear her sigh of frustration from across the room.

"Bella Black," she said politely, taking his offered hand and only just managing to keep her expression neutral as he kissed it.

Several others followed Diggle's lead and introduced themselves to Bella, including Shacklebolt as well as Alice Longbottom, Frank's wife, though no one else put on such an amusing display.

An awkward silence fell, with several holdouts refusing to greet Bella. Thankfully, Dumbledore took the opportunity to clear his throat, immediately gaining the attention of everyone present. "Now that the introductions have been made we really ought to start the meeting. If you'll all make your way into the kitchen..."

The group immediately began to move towards a set of double doors at the far end of the room. Harry separated himself from Remus Lupin to find Bella behind everyone else. She met his eyes briefly, and Harry knew that she hadn't expected a warmer welcome. As he moved to stand beside her, he found his way barred by an aged witch who hadn't introduced herself to either one of them.

"Hello, Mr. Potter, I thought I'd say hello before the meeting starts. My name is Professor McGonagall, and I shall be teaching you Transfiguration."

"You're the Head of Gryffindor, right?" Harry asked, falling into step with her a pace ahead of Bella. He knew his guardian well enough to realize that she wouldn't be bothered by his lack of attention.

"Indeed I am," McGonagall said, a thin-lipped smile gracing her features. "But I have already heard that my House has lost you to the Ravenclaws. I don't suppose you play Quidditch, Mr. Potter?"

Harry shrugged. "I fly for fun, but there's hardly time for Quidditch in a world at war."

McGonagall's expression darkened at that, the line of her lips threatening to disappear entirely. "I'm sorry you feel that way, but if you inherited any of your father's skill on a broom, my House will be relieved."

Harry grinned at her briefly before looking around at the room they had just entered. The kitchen was as modern as the rest of the place, though they had kept the old stove, presumably to avoid any ambient magic interfering with an electric one. Harry noted that there weren't any adjacent seats left for them, and the only available ones were next to Molly Weasley or Sirius Black (McGonagall found a seat at Dumbledore's left). Sighing imperceptibly, he slid into the chair next to his godfather, enjoying the Weasley matriarch's sour expression as Bella sat next to her.

Dumbledore waited until Bella was fully seated to stand from his own seat at the head of the table, clasping his hands together and smiling at the group before him. "Now that everyone is here, we can begin the meeting." As he spoke, he withdrew his wand from his sleeve and cast a pair of nonverbal charms at the double doors, causing them to slam shut and seal themselves from any and all outside eavesdropping attempts. "The first order of business is, of course, the induction of our two new members. If anyone has any reason why the either or both of them should not be admitted, please speak now, or risk irritating the rest of us later." How he managed to say that with a straight face was a mystery to Harry.

Molly Weasley raised her hand immediately, as did Remus Lupin and a dignified young witch who had previously identified herself as Emmeline Vance.

"I myself have objections to both of them joining, Albus," Molly Weasley said, speaking before the aged headmaster could wave anyone else forward. To her right, Bella was clearly trying not to laugh, and to her left, her balding husband was shaking his head as if stubbornly denying his wife's foolishness.

"Let us address your objections one at a time, if you don't mind," Dumbledore said. "Begin with whichever one you feel is most vital."

"Very well," Mrs. Weasley said, giving Harry a patronizing smile. "I'm afraid that Harry is far too young to join the Order. He hasn't even reached his majority yet!"

Several Order members spoke out in response to this, but beyond Sirius' obvious disagreement with the woman's statement, he couldn't tell who had come down on which side.

"Silence," Dumbledore said clearly, the word carrying with it a magical compulsion. The room immediately fell deathly quiet. "Your objection would be valid, Molly, if I planned on sending Harry out into the field. As it is, his membership is little more than the knowledge of our secrets and the right to a voice of his own in our meetings. Besides, several people in this room can already attest to both his uncanny ability to circumvent the Restriction of Under-Age Sorcery as well as his skill in combat. Do either of you have further objections to Harry's admittance?" Dumbledore finished, nodding at Lupin and Vance.

"I do," Remus said, giving Harry an apologetic look. "It's not that I don't respect his abilities, but are we absolutely certain that he _should_ be learning our secrets? Isn't he also a potential security threat?"

"Perhaps he would be under different circumstances," Dumbledore said. "It is here that I'm afraid you and anyone else harboring similar doubts must simply trust my judgment. Harry has shared enough about himself to convince me to allow him full membership without reservation. He knows that keeping a low profile is a must, and as such is not asking for any field assignments before his majority. Harry, have I left anything out?"

"Not really, Headmaster," Harry said, trying to keep his tone as respectful as he possibly could. "I might have more to say about objections to my guardian's membership, but only if the objectors," here he nodded solemnly at both Vance and Mrs. Weasley, "aren't satisfied by your own justifications first."

"And on that note, Molly, I believe you also had some form of objection to Bella's upcoming induction?"

Mrs. Weasley looked downright mutinous at being all but ignored, but seemed willing to take Dumbledore's word on the matter. Harry didn't have more than a second to be grateful for her blind follower mentality before she was at it again, her shrill voice angering Harry more than he would have thought possible. "Albus, she was a Death Eater! She _kidnapped_ poor Harry! How can we possibly be expected to take her word on anything?"

Harry looked around the table for reactions, seeing everything from smug approval (Sirius) to complete disgust (Shacklebolt). Bella, on the other hand, smiled.

"Molly, I'm afraid you've rather thoroughly answered your own questions," Dumbledore said, his own maddening smile undisturbed. "Indeed, she _was_ a Death Eater. And while kidnapping is a rather serious crime, I myself would be hard-pressed to criticize her parenting skills, if the result truly is this young man sitting before us. And finally, considering the fact that I interviewed the pair of them before inviting them here, I believe it is safe to say that you're taking _my _word rather than either of theirs. Miss Vance, have you anything to add?"

"Albus, you can make light of her crimes all you want, but that doesn't change what she's done," she said harshly.

"Let's not forget that she isn't the first Death Eater to join our ranks," Frank Longbottom said, jerking his head at the man to Dumbledore's right. Harry hadn't noticed him before, but Bella's descriptions had proved perfectly accurate.

There was no mistaking Severus Snape.

"And if we're taking Dumbledore's word on me, we can't very well judge another one too harshly, can we?" Snape spat, his dislike for most (if not all) of those present clearly evident in his tone and posture. His black eyes swept across the room until they finally met Harry's. The man's lips curled into a sneer, but he said nothing.

Harry, for his part, did what he could to remain expressionless. He hoped he had succeeded.

"Snape's got a point," Elphias Doge wheezed, weighing in for the first time.

"What about you, Dung?" Sirius asked, drawing the room's attention. "Didn't you say that she once threatened you?"

Harry's internal question about the name "Dung" was answered a moment later when a pile of rags in the far corner of the room shifted to reveal a squat, bandy-legged man, who had apparently been dozing when Harry was introduced to the rest of the Order. Even though he had hardly moved, his slight stir was enough to send a foul, unidentifiable aroma wafting straight into Harry's nostrils. He tried desperately not to choke as the man spoke.

"She 'oo?"

"Bellatrix Lestrange! Wake up and pay attention, mate!" Sirius looked a little less than pleased with the knowledge that his star witness had been sleeping through the meeting.

"Oh right, 'er," the smelly man said dazedly. "Well I 'ad just bought a fine set of watches from, er, well never you mind where from, but it was completely legal, I swear–"

"Today, please, Fletcher," McGonagall said impatiently.

"An' she an' that rotten 'usband of 'ers jus' grabbed me and asked where somefin was, can't rightly remember what..."

"Fletcher!" McGonagall snapped.

"Right, sorry Perfessor. Well 'er 'usband was all for torturin' me, an' she told him to back off and looked at me, looked me right in the eye, an' said, 'If yeh don't tell me what I wanna know, no one'll ever find yer body,' or somefin like that. Yeh got the long an' short of it, though, right?"

The collective gaze of the table moved to Bella, who shrugged unconcernedly. "Well it isn't as if I actually killed him. Ask your Auror friends here how many similar threats they've made."

"Not a one!" the green-haired girl said exuberantly.

"Tonks," Alice Longbottom began, "be a dear and shut up for a moment."

The young Auror complied, giving Harry a wink.

"That evidence isn't nearly enough to keep her out of the Order, Sirius," Lupin said in a weary tone. "It isn't even as bad as half of the things we did back in our Hogwarts days."

"A fact that I was about to point out myself!" Flitwick added, eliciting a few laughs from around the table. Harry saw that Snape's expression hadn't changed. It was obvious, however, from the looks of barely contained anger on Molly Weasley, Sirius and Vance's faces that the motion was about to be dropped.

"If there are no other objections, then it is time to swear our new members in," Albus said. "Minerva, if you would do the honors."

What followed would have put Harry to sleep, had he not been required to participate for half of it. He and Bella both had to recite a vow that must have been five pages on paper, and then sign their names on what was no doubt a jinxed piece of parchment. When replaying it in his mind later, Harry would wonder if he could have used Occlumency to prevent the jinxes from taking hold, like Snape probably had.

"On to the main agenda, I think," Dumbledore said after Harry had signed, pocketing the parchment. "We have a great deal to discuss today, but a very limited time to do so. Our first order of business, of course, is the attack that occurred in Diagon Alley. Is everyone familiar with the attack itself?" At everyone's nods, he continued. "Very well, then I give the floor to Alice. Tell us what you have learned from the prisoners."

"Minister Fudge insisted on being present at the interrogation, and made himself as much of an obstacle as he possibly could. One of the only things we were able to obtain for the record is that the Death Eaters–and they were Death Eaters–that fled the scene were Lucius Malfoy, who orchestrated the attack, Cassandra Yaxley and both Alecto and Amycus Carrow. We obtained a warrant to search all of their family homes, but found that the Death Eaters had fled. Minister Fudge again intervened during this part of the investigation, insisting that we not do anything more invasive than question Narcissa Malfoy at her manor without any form of truth serum. As expected, we learned nothing."

"Just another piece to add to our Obstruction of Justice case against Fudge," Sirius said bitterly.

"A case that's nowhere near ready to be presented," Hestia Jones added. "What can that man possibly be thinking?"

"Unfortunately, his disbelief isn't at all unreasonable, at least not from his perspective," Sturgis Podmore put in. "The evidence of You-Know-Who's return isn't overwhelming, especially given our lack of eye-witnesses. Still, he had no business impeding an official investigation like that. Protecting those that line his pockets is my guess."

"What have Amelia Bones and Rufus Scrimgeour got to say about the situation?" Flitwick asked.

"They've issued standing orders–off the record, of course–to interrogate any more Death Eaters we find _before_ bringing them in. Scrimgeour is especially interested in what Lucius Malfoy will have to say about Fudge under Veritaserum," Shacklebolt said.

"Bella, do you have anything to add?" Dumbledore asked. "Any places that the Death Eaters might have fled to?"

"Voldemort was always careful about where we met," Bella said, watching nearly everyone around the table flinch. "He had three places that he regularly called us, but they were all warded and dark enough that I never had any idea where I was. The Dark Mark was designed so that we couldn't locate him except to apparate to his side."

"How did you know that they were three different places, then?" Vance asked skeptically.

"I could see enough of the floors to recognize different types of flooring," Bella explained.

"We might actually have something for you on that, Albus," Frank said, gesturing to include Sirius. "The Carrows have been spotted multiple times in the Great Hangleton area, shortly before they disappear."

"No apparition?" McGonagall asked sharply.

"Nor Portkeys," Sirius said. "We think that Voldemort could be somewhere in the area, or at least some sort of Death Eater hideout."

"Severus?" Dumbledore asked, effectively shifting all eyes to Snape.

"As Bella said, I do not know where the Dark Lord calls us to, except that it is never the same location twice," Harry couldn't tell if he was lying or not, and from her expression, neither could Bella.

"What about what Bella said, the bit about having three different locations on rotation?" Tonks asked.

"The Dark Lord has changed his pattern of behavior," Snape said. "He no longer risks using the same location twice."

"But that doesn't mean that Great Hangleton isn't worth investigating," Sirius pressed. "If Voldemort is always calling them to a different location, then he probably has a home base that he doesn't want everyone to know about. It's possible that the Carrows are privy to that information, or it could just be a safe house. Either way, we've got a warrant for their arrest, so we're checking it out."

"I trust that you will keep us informed about anything else that comes up during your investigation," Dumbledore stated rather than asked.

"Of course," Frank said.

"What else is do we have to cover?" Tonks asked curiously after a suitable pause.

"I had thought we could use the remaining time for any questions for our newest members," Dumbledore said with a slightly embarrassed smile at Bella. "If that's all right, that is."

"We won't answer just anything," Bella warned, "but I don't see what harm a few simple questions could do."

"I'll excuse myself," Snape snapped, rising from his chair and striding out of the room without another word, slamming the door behind him.

"Stupid bloody wanker," Sirius muttered as Dumbledore recast the Imperturbable Charm on the door.

Bella looked up and down the table, but no one seemed willing to ask the first question. "If no one has any questions–"

"Where did you go?" Tonks interrupted. "Where did you take Harry?"

"Cameroon," Bella said, smirking as several people gasped.

"How in the name of Merlin did you get them to let you into one of their villages?" Podmore asked incredulously.

"I taught them a few combat spells. Nothing Dark, but enough to give them a definite edge," Bella said, choosing to omit the first chief's other demand.

"What was it like down there?" Remus asked curiously.

"Quiet, for the most part," Bella said. "A bit too quiet, if I'm being honest. Still, it was an ideal place to raise Harry away from the demands of our world, even if Nanultka is technically a part of it.

"What language do they speak?" Flitwick asked.

"Several, but the most common was French," Harry answered.

"That's the only one that we bothered to learn, at any rate," Bella added. "That village is where my intentions changed."

"From those of a Death Eater to something else?" Vance asked.

"It's where she learned what being a parent does to a person," Harry said. He could see that the Order was divided in response to that. The parents and teachers were all nodding thoughtfully, with Mrs. Weasley looking at Bella as though she had never seen her before, but the rest didn't quite understand what he was getting at. "She learned to put someone else before her in everything. She loved me."

"That's when I realized that I couldn't use Harry like I had planned to. I could only raise him to be...a good person, I suppose," Bella said.

"Problem was, me being a good person wouldn't save me from Voldemort," Harry said mirthlessly, ignoring the collective flinch around the table. "So even while I was having fun and getting regular school lessons from Bella, she was helping me understand that not everyone was as friendly as the people in Nanultka, and that I would probably have to learn to fight just to stay alive. With that in mind, we returned to England on my eleventh birthday. Bella taught me all of the Hogwarts curriculum, as well as a few other things, things that I've already had to use here to stay alive."

It was Sirius who broke the ensuing silence. "I guess...good on you, Bella." It was clear from his expression that he was far from happy with his cousin, but that seemed to be the only thing he could say that would satisfy his pride.

"Thanks, Sirius," Bella said.

"What sorts of other things did she teach you?" Vance pressed.

"More importantly," Mr. Weasley cut in, seeing Harry's eyes narrow, "what will you tell the rest of the world?"

"The Ministry has already had the Prophet publish a piece about Harry being raised in an undisclosed, but safe location," Bella said. "I'm going to come forward as Harry's guardian to the right people in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and they're going to insert me in as the Ministry's appointed guardian."

"Do you really think that will work?" Frank asked skeptically.

"The Minister painted himself into a bit of a corner when he authorized that article," Bella said. "He can't call me anything but the perfect guardian unless he wants to risk his own position."

"You're even more right than you know," Shacklebolt said. "Lucius Malfoy is Fudge's main unofficial financial backer, but he's one that almost everyone inside the Ministry and out knows about. Given what Malfoy is being accused of, Fudge is already on thin ice."

"What about the prophecy?" Harry asked, knowing that Dumbledore would take the hint.

"We have round-the-clock guards stationed at the moment," the headmaster said. "William Weasley is there right now. Beginning tomorrow, I shall create a Portkey that will be passed from guard to guard. If anyone attempts to break in, use the Portkey immediately rather than attempt to apprehend the intruder. Contact me from there."

"Why the change in protocol?" Podmore asked.

"With still more Death Eaters in Azkaban, the likelihood that Voldemort himself will perform the break-in has increased dramatically," Dumbledore replied. The thought of facing down Voldemort alone was enough for Podmore to abandon that line of questioning.

"If that's all, I should probably go upstairs and warn the kids not to be concerned about Bella," Mr. Weasley said, smiling good-naturedly.

"I'll go with you, Arthur," Mrs. Weasley said, now clearly unsure of what to think of Harry's guardian.

As the Weasleys rose to leave, Harry felt something impact the palm of his hand from under the table. Looking down, he saw a small ball of parchment that unfurled before his very eyes. It read "Stay Here" in a long, slanted script that probably belonged to Dumbledore. A quick glance at Sirius' lap showed an identical scrap before both were tugged back under the table by some invisible force.

"I'll be off as well," Vance said, rising in her seat. "Coming Hestia, Kingsley?"

"You two go on without me," Shacklebolt said in his deep, calming voice. "I'm not going home straightaway."

Most of the Order made to leave with them, leaving only those who had received a parchment from Dumbledore, with one exception.

"Dedalus, if you don't mind, I've got a legal matter that I'd like your advice on in the other room," Flitwick said after meeting Dumbledore's gaze.

"Of course, Professor," the man in question said, making quite a show of rising from his seat. Harry watched him sneak one last glance at Bella in the doorway on his way out.

"What's this about, Albus," Alice Longbottom asked.

"We should wait for Filius," McGonagall said.

"No need, no need!" Flitwick said, hurrying back into his seat and turning to recast the charm again.

"How did you get rid of him so quickly?" Harry asked.

"Never mind that," Flitwick said, though Harry noted that he looked a bit guilty. "What has Albus kept us here for?"

"And why us?" Sirius added.

"Because out of the entire Order, only you lot know enough Occlumency to keep a secret," Harry said bluntly.

"What sort of secret?" Alice asked.

"Snape isn't on our side," Bella said simply.

"That has not been proven yet," Dumbledore said sharply.

"The evidence points overwhelmingly in that direction, though," Harry said dryly.

"There was only circumstantial evidence presented at his trial," Doge pointed out.

"That was a simple oversight on the Ministry's part," Bella said, waving one hand impatiently. "At the time, I couldn't inform them that Snape–with the help of Wormtail–executed James Potter on Halloween of 1981. Combine that with the fact that he credited Wormtail with the kill to Albus..."

"And I've been letting him into my _home_?!" Sirius growled, clenching and unclenching his hands, a slightly mad gleam in his eyes.

"Yes, well you're going to have to continue to admit him, unfortunately," Harry said sourly. "Apparently the Headmaster isn't convinced of his guilt."

Sirius rounded on Dumbledore furiously, while Harry and Bella sat back as one, content to observe for the moment. "What is the matter with you?!"

"I do not believe Severus to be guilty of killing James Potter," Dumbledore said.

"You think she's lying," Frank said, his expression unreadable.

"No, but I believe she may be incorrect in her assumption," Dumbledore replied carefully.

"Come off it, Dumbledore," Sirius said angrily. "What in the name of Merlin could Snape have possibly told you to make you stick by him with such blind loyalty?"

"Few have ever accused me of being blind, Sirius," Dumbledore said mildly, but there was an underlying edge to his tone. "In any case, Bella and Harry have convinced me that we have nothing to lose by keeping Severus somewhat out of the loop for the time being. Unfortunately, that means keeping everyone else outside this room ignorant of some of our plans and knowledge as well. Severus is a very skillful Legilimens, as most of you know."

"What else will we be keeping secret?" Remus asked.

"As of right now? Not very much," Dumbledore replied.

"Only one thing, really," Bella said. "The prophecy record has been destroyed. That was the purpose of our little visit to the Department of Mysteries."

"We should have guessed," Shacklebolt said, meeting Sirius' gaze.

"And its contents?" Alice asked, watching Harry.

"The short version is that it's him or me," Harry said.

"_You_ have to kill him?" McGonagall asked, horrified. Everyone else present seemed to be reacting the same way.

"Yes, but I don't have to do it alone," Harry said, gesturing to include Bella and Dumbledore.

"Of course you don't," Flitwick agreed. "I'll be right there with you!"

"We all will," Remus said, looking around the room.

"No need to start planning the final confrontation just yet," Harry said with a smile. "I'm not even out of school yet."

"And while that most certainly will not stop Voldemort," Dumbledore began, pausing for the expected flinch, which came from fewer people than Harry might have expected, "it will make things much more difficult for him."

"But You-Know-Who doesn't know the prophecy, right?" Doge asked, seeking clarification.

"And that is our best weapon against him at the moment," Dumbledore said. "As long as he is uncertain of the contents, he is unlikely to risk very much by going after Harry directly. We must remain vigilant, as Alastor would say, but we cannot let fear of Voldemort run our lives."

The meeting broke up soon afterwards, and Sirius immediately took Harry aside as Dumbledore and the other professors made their way to the front of the house. "Let me show you upstairs, Harry, I'm sure you're dying to meet the other kids."


End file.
